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NATURAL SIZE.

BRONZE FISH-HOOK FROM A LACUSTRINE SETTLEMENT NEAR MORGES,
LAKE OF GENEVA, SWITZERLAND.

SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO KNOWLEDGE.
sO

PREHISTORIC FISHING

KUROPE AND NORTH AMERICA.

CHARLES RAU.

WASHINGTON CITY:
PUBLISHED BY THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.
1884.

JUDD & DETWEILER, PRINTERS,
: WASHINGTON, D. C.

ADVERTISEMENT.

THE author of the following memoir was requested to prepare an article on
“the methods and apparatus of prehistoric fishing,” for the Report of the United
States Commission of Fish and Fisheries; but the work grew to such propor-
tions that it was deemed advisable to consider the propriety of its publication in
the Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge.

In accordance with the rule of the Smithsonian Institution, the work was
submitted for examination to a commission of experts, consisting of Dr. DANIEL
G. Brinton, of Philadelphia, and Professor Henry W. Haynes, of Boston.
These gentlemen having recommended its publication, it was accepted by the
Institution, and is herewith presented as an important contribution to the sum of
human knowledge.

The memoir, for the most part, is based on the materials contained in the
archzeological division (under the direction of Dr. Rav,) of the United States
National Museum, of which establishment the Smithsonian Institution has the
charge.

SPENCER F. BAIRD,
Secretary Smithsonian Institution.

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION,
Washington, December, 1884.

PREFACE.

This volume should have been written by one not only acquainted with the
details of prehistoric archzeology, but also well informed regarding all matters
pertaining to fishing as practised in our time. Unfortunately, I cannot lay:
claim to any knowledge of the piscatorial art; for, after a single unsuccessful
trial in angling, made in the days of my boyhood, I gave up all further attempts,
and thus it happened that I never caught a fish in my life, either with hook or
net. I should add that, owing to more pressing occupations, this want of prac-
tical experience has not in any way been supplemented by the study of works
treating of fishing; and, as a consequence, many points doubtless have escaped
my notice, which would have elicited comments on the part of an expert. Thus,
in describing the ancient fish-hooks, he would have conjectured, from their form
and size, what species of fishes were caught with them; the character of net-
sinkers, perhaps, would have suggested to him that of the nets; and so in other
instances. Yet, I must not omit to state that, while composing this work, I
derived great advantage from being placed in circumstances of close association
with some members of the United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries; for
these gentlemen assisted me with great readiness whenever I had occasion to
appeal to their knowledge of the details of fishing.

In treating of prehistoric fishing in Europe, I have used all the literary
material within my reach; but certain data relating to the subject have
doubtless been omitted—for the simple reason that the writings containing
them were not at my disposal. Critical readers in Europe will bear this in

mind.* If the work had been exclusively designed for the initiated, I might

* After the text of the first part of this work had been electrotyped, I had occasion to examine a pamphlet
by Professor C. Grewingk, of Dorpat, entitled ‘‘Geologie und Archaeologie des Mergellagers von Kunda in
Estland’ (Dorpat, 1882). The author describes and figures a number of neolithic bone harpoon-heads extracted
from marl. I would have reproduced his illustrations, if it had not been too late. I may say, however, that
they present types similar to the European forms brought to the reader’s notice in the first part of this volume.

The portion of the second part in which North American fish-hooks are described, also was electrotyped,
when a short article by Miss Margarette W. Brooks, relative to bone fish-hooks found in a shell-heap near Narra-

Wal PREFACE.

have considerably abbreviated its first part by excluding much introductive and
descriptive matter not immediately connected with fishing. Yet, as it probably
will also be read by non-archzeologists, it has been thought necessary to dwell
on the differences between the paleolithic and neolithic ages, to give accounts of
the tool and bone-bearing drift-beds, of cave-habitations, artificial shell-deposits,
lake-dwellings, and, finally, to present a brief characterization of the bronze age.
These intercalated portions were in part taken, with or without modifications,
from “ Early Man in Europe,” a small volume embracing a series of articles,
which I had written in 1875 for “ Harper’s New Monthly Magazine.” The
articles in question, notwithstanding their popular character, embodied the
results of a careful study of original sources, and it is hoped that the extracts
from them, utilized in the present case, will meet with the approbation of com-
petent judges.

In the introduction to the second part of this work I have briefly stated
my views concerning palzeolithic man in North America. It would then have
afforded me special pleasure to refer to Professor W. Boyd Dawkins’s excellent
article on early man in America, published in the “ North American Review”
(October, 1883), the more so, since his conclusions and mine point in the same
direction; but the pages in which I alluded to the subject were already electro-
typed before the publication of that article.

A work like that here presented must, from its very character, in a great
measure be a compilation from preceding writings. There are authors who, in
such cases, will slightly alter the text of their predecessors, and thus make it
their own, though not without mentioning the sources from which they have
drawn. I have preferred the mode of verbal quotation, not on account of being
the easier one, but because I was actuated by the desire of doing full justice to
those by whose labors I have profited.

I have been much assisted in my work in various ways, and it is but proper
that I should express my acknowledgments. Reference was made to the advan-

tages I derived from my acquaintance with members of the United States Fish

gansett Pier, Rhode Island, appeared in “Science” (Vol. 2, p. 653). There are figures of one perfect fish-hook
and of fragments of three others given. The perfect one, of whose representation I would have published a copy,
if it had been feasible, bears some resemblance to the original of Fig. 189 on page 127 of this work, yet is smaller
and clumsier in shape. Owing to an oversight, a prehistoric Nova Scotian bone harpoon-head, figured on page
137 of Professor J. W. Dawson’s “ Fossil Men” (Montreal, 1880), has not been noticed in this work. Such

drawbacks seem to be unavoidable.

PREFACE. iva

Commission. My principal adviser among these gentlemen was Captain Joseph
W. Collins, who very obligingly aided me with his great experience whenever I
had occasion to ask him for an expression of his opinion. The Trustees of the
Peabody Museum of American Archeology and Ethnology, at Cambridge,
Massachusetts, kindly loaned for my use, at the request of the Secretary of the
Smithsonian Institution, their collection of Swiss lacustrine articles employed in
fishing, and I was thus enabled to extend my observations and descriptions. In
connection with the Peabody Museum, I have to mention its Curator, Professor
F. W. Putnam, by whom the objects, accompanied with full descriptions, were
forwarded to the Smithsonian Institution.

Many other gentlemen have manifested their interest in my work by loan-
ing me specimens, or transmitting photographs or drawings, always with the
necessary—sometimes quite lengthy—explanations, and to some I am under
obligations for accounts of explorations of artificial shell-deposits carried on by
them. Yet, as in all instances the names of these co-laborers are given in the
text, in connection with the information furnished by them, I may here confine
myself to a general expression of my gratitude.

The illustrations in this work were nearly all made under my immediate
supervision by the skillful artist, Mr. Charles F. Trill, and may be relied on as
being either faithful copies of already published designs, or correct representa-
tions of objects specially drawn for this work, the majority of the latter being
specimens belonging to the United States National Museum.* All of Mr. Trill’s
drawings were reproduced by the New York Photo-engraving Company (67
Park Place). In addition, I had the use of a number of cuts which had pre-
viously served to illustrate Smithsonian publications or other works. I am
indebted to Messrs. Harper & Brothers for electrotypes of Figs. 29, 382, and 37,
used in my small work “ Early Man in Europe” (copyrighted in 1876); of Figs.
111, 112, and 113, published in Mitchell’s “ Past in the Present” (not copy-
righted); and of Figs. 396 to 404, illustrating Squier’s “ Peru” (copyrighted in
1877). To these latter special reference is made in a note on page 332 of this
work. To Colonel Charles C. Jones I am under obligations for the loan of the
block of Fig. 337; Dr. Emil Bessels placed the cuts of Figs. 19, 20, and 21 at

my disposal, and Professor Putnam accommodated me with those of Figs. 352

* To these illustrations the catalogue-numbers of the originals are always juxtaposited.

VIII PREFACE.

and 353. LElectrotypes of Figs. 109, 212, 254, and 255, finally, were sent, with
others, by Messrs. F. Vieweg and Son, of Braunschweig. These last-mentioned
illustrations are taken from the “Archiv fiir Anthropologie,” published by that
well-known firm.

In conclusion, I would say that, whatever may be thought of this work, it
will go far to illustrate anew the parallelism in the technical progress of popu-
lations totally unknown to each other, and for which only the common bond of
humanity can be claimed. The designs of European and North American
fishing-implements in this work bear witness to the statement. It will be
noticed how slowly man in Europe arrived at the idea of barbing the fish-hook.
None of the European hooks of bone or horn figured in this work is properly
barbed, excepting the one shown in Fig. 91 on page 71, and this hook may post-
date the neolithic period, and pertain to a time during which barbed fish-hooks
of bronze were not uncommon. Among the prehistoric American fish-hooks
which I was enabled to represent by designs in this publication, only one has a
point armed with a barb on the inner side, namely, the deer-horn hook from
New York delineated in Fig. 193 on page 128, which, as stated, is supposed to
have been made after a European pattern. Yet, I would not venture to say that
barbed fish-hooks had been unknown in America in ante-Columbian times; I
simply state that none have fallen under my notice. Indeed, the halibut-hook
of the Northwest Coast, doubtless an old aboriginal invention, may be classed
among barbed fish-hooks (Fig. 9 on page 15).

Further analogies (and also differences) in the character of the prehistoric
fishing-implements of Hurope and America will easily be discovered by those
who peruse the pages here offered.

SMITHSONIAN InsrirruTion, CHARLES Rav.
June, 1884.

1.—PALOLITHIC AGE
General Characteristics
The Drift

Implements and Animal Remains

CONTENTS.

PART I.—EUROPE.

Implements used as Ice-picks (?)
Caves and Rock-shelters

Retreats of Man during the Reindeer-period

Fish-remains

Fishing and Fishing-implements :
Delineations of Fishes and Aquatic Mammals

2.—NEoLITHIC AGE

General Characteristics
Artificial Shell-deposits

Fishing-implements and Utensils not found in Lacustrine Settlements

Character

Capture of Mollusks and Fish
Lake-dwellings

Character
Fish-remains
Fishing-implements
Boats

General Remarks

Double-pointed straight Bait-holders

Fish-hooks
Harpoon-heads
Arrow-heads .
Sinkers

Boats
Anchor-stones

3.—BRONZE AGE

General Characteristics

Lake-dwellings

Fishing-implements and Utensils not d

Character
Fishing-implements
Boats

. .

erived from Lake-habitations

PAGE.

A BH

Io
I2
27
32
32
33
33
36
37
37
45
46
66
68
68
69
69
72
84
84
gl
94
95
95
97
97
99
T05

109

xX CONTENTS.

PART II.—NORTH AMERICA.

PAGE.
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS : ; ° , : z a 5 ; 5 5 : 113
FISHING-IMPLEMENTS AND UTENSILS : as ; , - 6 : : ; 117
Double-pointed straight Bait- folders : 5 5 . : ° . Tee
Fish-hooks : ; . 5 : : ; . 5 2 . . : 120
Harpoon and Arrow-heads ; : ; : : c : 6 ; : 141
Nets : : : : 5 , ; : 6 : : zi . : 155
Sinkers é 5 7 2 5 5 : ; . : 5 i : 156
Fish-cutters . : : ; ; : : 3 : : - f : 183
Boats AND APPURTENANCES . : : . 4 : A : : 5 : 188
Boats. : 5 : : : : 5 5 - : . : ; 188
Bailing-scoops : ; : : : : : : 0 ; 2 2 190
Paddles . ; : ‘ : : : ; ; : : p : 191
Anchor-stones : : ; : : : : 2 ; 5 ; : 192
PREHISTORIC STRUCTURES CONNECTED WITH FISHING : 0 7 5 : 5 : 197
Fish-preserves : : ; : ; : 5 : ; : 5 : 197
Fish-pens : : : . : . 5 . : : 200
REPRESENTATIONS OF FISHES, NGUNEE Magnan: THANG : : a : c : 204
Pipes. : : : ; : f . . : : : 205
Imitations in Stone are Shell ; ; : : , : 5 . : 200
Clay Vessels : ; : : ; : 5 : : 5 5 : 2u1
Delineations : : : : , ; . : : 5 : : 213
ARTIFICIAL SHELL-DEPOSITS ; : ; : ; ; , : 7 0 : : 216
Introductory Notices 2 ‘ . ‘ ; c : . , j 216
Greenland : : : : 2 < : 3 3 5 : : : 218
Nova Scotia a 4 : : 7 : : f . : 221
New Brunswick and New England c ; 5 : : 5 : 222
New York . -—& : : : i : : . ; , ; : 225
New Jersey . A , 5 7 . : . : : 7 ; 227
Delaware : : : . e ¢ : : c : ; : ; 230
Maryland 3 5 : , : 5 0 : ; ; : 235
West Virginia i 0 - c 6 : : c . : , < 239
Ohio : : : : é : , : 2 : 3 : ; . 241
Tennessee : : 5 ; ; , . . ; i 2 0 241
Towa : : ‘ : fi : q , c : . . 3 241
Georgia ; 5 ; zi 5 : : : : : 5 242
Florida : 3 : c 7 F - 5 : 5 : : 243
Alabama . 7 i : x a , . ‘ ; : ; 5 249
California and Oregon. : . ; : : ; ; : 5 . 249
Alaska. : . : ; : . ; : : : : : : 256

EXTRACTS FROM VARIOUS WRITINGS OF THE SIXTEENTH, SEVENTEENTH, EIGHTEENTH, AND

NINETEENTH CENTURIES, IN WHICH REFERENCE IS MADE TO ABORIGINAL FISHING IN
NortH AMERICA a : : : ¢ : : , : % ' : ; 201
Egede (Hans) 3 é . 5 , J : 5 5 : : 261
Crantz (David) : 7 : : : ‘ : : : F : : 261
Lloyd (T. G. B.) . : : : : ‘ 5 : ‘ : ; ; 266

De Laet (Joannes) , , : ; : . 3 : : : : 267

De Champlain (Le Sieur)

Sagard Theodat (Le F. Gabriel)

Le Jeune (Le P. Paul)
Charlevoix (Father)
Henry (Alexander)
Hearne (Samuel)
Mackenzie (Alexander)
Williams (Roger) :
[Johnson (Captain Edward) ]}
Ogilby (John)

Josselyn (John) ; :
Van der Donck (Adriaen)
Kalm (Peter)

Morgan (Lewis H.)

_ Loskiel (George Henry)
De Bry (Theodorus)
Smith (Captain John)
[Beverly (Robert) ]
Lawson (John)

Brickell (John)

Adair (James)

Du Pratz (M. Le Page)
Wyeth (Nathaniel J.)
Catlin (George)
Powers (Stephen)

The same : ‘ .
Stone (Livingston) :
Dunn (John) 7 .
Swan (James G.) . .
The same 5 . :
The same : : :

Meares (John)

Cook (Captain James) and King

APPENDIX.

NOTtICES OF FISHING-IMPLEMENTS AND FISH-REPRESENTATIONS DISCOVERED SOUTH OF MEXICO

Nicaragua
Costa Rica

Chiriqui, State of Panama, United States of Colombia

CONTENTS.

(Captain James)

State of Cauca, United States of Colombia

Peru

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Fig.
Fig.

Figs.

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Figs.
Figs.
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Figs.

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Figs.

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Figs.
Figs.

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Figs.
Figs.

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Fig.

Figs.

Fig.
Fig.

Fig.

Figs.

Fig.
Fig.
Fig.
Fig.

Figs.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

1.—Drift-implement. Saint-Acheul, France . 2 7 A , : :
2.—Double-pointed bone implement used in catching birds. Eskimos, Norton Sound, Alaska
3-8.—Double-pointed bone implements. La Madelaine, France
9.—Hialibut-hook. Makah Indians, Cape Flattery, Washington Territory
10.—Codfish-hook. Makah Indians, Cape Flattery, Washington Territory
11.—Harpoon-head of reindeer-horn. La Madelaine, France

12.—Harpoon-head of reindeer-horn. Bruniquel, France

13-15.—Harpoon-heads of reindeer-horn. La Madelaine, France

16.—Iron-headed Sioux arrow : ; : 5

17.—Harpoon-head of reindeer-horn. La Madelaine, France . ; 5 0 5 . . .
18.—Harpoon-head of reindeer-horn. Laugerie Basse, France

Ig-21.—Harpoons. Eskimos, Alaska : fi 2 : : . :
22-23.—Harpoon or arrow-heads of reindcer-horn. La Madelaine, France é : . .
24—28.—Harpoon-heads of reindeer-horn (?). Kesslerloch, Switzerland . : ° °

29-30.—Harpoon-heads of reindeer-horn (?). Kent’s Cavern, England ; 5 °

31.—Representations of fishes and a horse on a baton of reindeer-horn. La Madelaine, France

32.—Drawing of a fish on a piece of reindeer-horn. La Madelaine, France . 0 6 ° .

33-—Figure of a pike engraved on a drilled bear’s tooth. Duruthy Grotto, France

34--—Outline of a fish (Sgaa/ius ?) on a reindeer-jaw. Laugerie Basse, France

35.—Tracing of a fish on a baton of reindeer-horn, Cave of Goyet, Belgium

36.—Rude drawing of a fishing-scene on the scapula of an ox. Laugerie Basse, France

37-—Outlines of two heads of the aurochs, a human figure, an eel (?), two horse-heads, and three rows of
marks on a piece of reindeer-horn. La Madelaine, France

38.—Figure of a seal traced on a drilled bear’s tooth. Duruthy Grotto, France

39-40.—Double-pointed bone implements. Wangen, Baden :

41—42.—Double-pointed bone implements. Lake of Neuchatel, Switzerland . .

43.—Bone arrow-head (?). Saint-Aubin, Switzerland

44.—-Fish-hook of deer-horn. Wangen, Baden ; : :

45-46.—Fish-hooks made of wild boars’ tusks. Moosseedorf, Switzerland

47-48.—Bone fish-hooks. Wangen, Baden . : ; 5 :

49.—Double fish-hook (?) of deer-horn. Saint-Aubin, Switzerland . 5 : I 5 3

50-51.—Bark floats. Robenhausen, Switzerland 7

52-53-— Wooden implements used for recovering fishing-lines. Robenhausen, Switzerland .
54.—* Arpion” : 5 5 . z : - : c 3 = . : . :
55-—‘ Devil’s claw grapnel.”” Massachusetts . ; f ° : A . . .
56-58.—Deer-horn harpoon-heads. Saint-Aubin, Switzerland : : ' . ° . .
59.—Bone harpoon-head. Concise, Switzerland ; ; Fi S 2 5 . . . °
60.—Harpoon-head of deer-horn. Concise, Switzerland 5 . . . . ° ° .
61.—Harpoon-head of deer-horn. Wauwyl, Switzerland : 0 . A ° .
62-—64.—Harpoon-heads of deer-horn. Lattringen, Switzerland " . f

65.—Arrow-head of deer-horn. Saint-Aubin, Switzerland 5 - : 5 : : °
66.—Flint arrow-head. Robenhausen, Switzerland 3 5 : ” Z A .
67.—Flint arrow-head. Bodio, Italy 5 : : : , 0 . . . : .

68.—Fragment of fishing-net. Robenhausen (?), Switzerland . : . . .

69-70.—Stone sinkers. Allensbach, Baden 2 5 ‘ f f 5 ; , .
XII

PAGE,

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fF FW N

XIV

Fig.
Figs.
Fig.
Fig.
Fig.
Figs.
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Figs.
Fig.
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Fig.
Fig.
Fig.
Fig.
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Figs.
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Figs.
Figs.
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Fig.
Fig.
Figs.
Fig.

Figs.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
71.—Stone sinker. Estavayer, Switzerland . . . .
72—-73.—Stone sinkers(?). Saint-Aubin, Switzerland .
74.—Stone sinker (?). Saint-Aubin, Switzerland . 0 a
75-—Clay sinker (?). Nidau-Steinberg, Switzerland
76.—Clay sinker (?). Inkwyl, Switzerland . 5 : -
77.-—Bark float. Robenhausen, Switzerland 5 f °
78.—Wooden implement for arranging nets. Wangen, Baden
79-80.—Implements made of boars’ tusks. Nussdorf, Baden
81.—Perforated bear’s tooth. Nussdorf, Baden = : =
82.—Netting-implement. New England : 0 : .
83.—Netting-implement. Eskimos, Nunivak Island, Alaska .
84.—Netting-implement. Eskimos, Chirikoff Island, Alaska
85.—Netting-implement. McCloud River Indians, California
86.—Boat. Robenhausen, Switzerland ; . ; a
87.—Boat. Moéringen, Switzerland : d . ° .
88.—Flint fish-hook. Oresund, Sweden : s : A
89.—Flint fish-hook. Kranke Lake, Sweden . ° .
go.—Flint fish-hook (?). Scandinavia . . . . .
91.—Bone fish-hook. Scania, Sweden . «3 .
92.—Bone fish-hook. Pomerania, Prussia. : . .
93-—Fish-hook of reindeer-horn. Lapland, Norway . .
94-96.—Bone harpoon-heads. .Scania, Sweden. . .
97.—Bone harpoon-head. Seeland, Denmark 5 . 5
98.—Fish or bird-spear-head of bone. Arctic America A
99.—Prong of fish or bird-spear-head of bone. Scania, Sweden
100.—Bone harpoon-head. Fiinen, Denmark 5 Fs D
1o1.—Bone harpoon-head. Seeland, Denmark 2 : .
102.—Bone harpoon-head. Tierra del Fuego : , .
. 103-104.—Harpoon-heads of ox-horn. Poland

105.—Bone harpoon-head. Victoria Cave, England

106—108—Javelin-heads of bone with inserted flint-flakes. Scania, Sweden
109.—Javelin-head of elk-bone with inserted flakes. Eastern Prussia

110.—Scanian flint-point set in wooden socket

111.—Sink-stone of steatite. Shetland . ° .
112-113.—Sink-stones. Wells, Shetland 4 O a
114.—Stone sinker. Burns, England 5 ‘ .
115-116.—Stone sinkers. Ireland 0 7 6 3 .
117.—Stone sinker. County of Down, Ireland . °
118.—Stone sinker. County of Westmeath, Ireland .

119.—Stone sinker. Seeland, Denmark

120.—Stone sinker, Denmark : 2 : C .
121.—Stone sinker. District of Soré, Denmark

122.—-Stone sinker. District of Viborg, Denmark

123.—Stone anchor (?). Bohusland, Sweden
124.—Fishing-implement (?) of bronze. Switzerland
125-137.—Bronze fish-hooks, Nidau-Steinberg, Switzerland .
138.—Bronze fish-hook. Font, Switzerland . 7 : .
139-140.—Bronze fish-hooks. Cortaillod, Switzerland
141-143.—Bronze fish-hooks. Montellier, Switzerland
144.—Bronze fish-hook. Mouth of river Scheuss, Switzerland
145.—Bronze fish-hook, Lattringen, Switzerland

146.—Bronze fish-hook. Romanshorn, Switzerland
147-148.—Bronze fish-hooks. Unter-Uhldingen, Baden
149.—Bronze fish-hook. Roseninsel, Bavaria <i :
150-153.—Bronze fish-hooks. Lake of Bourget, Savoy, France

PAGE.

104

Fig. 156.—Barbed bronze rod not yet bent into the form of a fish-hook. Méringen, Switzerland
Figs. 157-158.—Barbed bronze armatures. Moringen, Switzerland

Fig. 159.—Barbed bronze armature. Peschiera, Italy

Fig. 160.—Barbed bronze armature. Roseninsel, Bavaria . C b . . :
Fig. 161.—Boat. Cudrefin, Switzerland 0 . : . . :

Fig. 162.—Boat. Vingelz, Switzerland . : : 5 . 4 Bi
Fig. 163.—Boat. Mercurago, Italy z 3 z C : . a . 5 °
Fig. 164.—Bronze fish-hook. Ireland . 5 6 . ° . ° . . .
Figs. 165-166.—Bronze fish-hooks. Glenluce, Scotland . . 7 5 . : =
Fig. 167.—Bronze fish-hook. Fiinen, Denmark , : : A : 6 5 C
Figs. 168—169.—Bronze fish-hooks in the form of baits. Germany . . . .

Fig. 170.—Double-pointed stone implement. Rogue River, Oregon é ° . : .
Fig. 171.—Double-pointed stone implement. Greene County, Tennessee

Fig. 172.—Double-pointed stone implement. Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Fig. 173.—Double-pointed grooved stone implement. Berks County, Pennsylvania

Figs. 174—176.—Double-pointed bone implements. Santa Cruz Island, California

Fig. 177.—Double-pointed bone implement. Santa Rosa Island, California :
Figs. 178—180.—Fish-hooks composed of bone and chipped stone. Greenland i

Fig. 181.—Bone point of fish-hook. Germany 2 : : . :

Fig. 182.—Baited bone fish-hook. Kutchin Indians, Alaska . . ; . . .
Fig. 183.—Bone fish-hook. Mouth of Oak Creek, Dakota : 4 f : :
Fig. 184.—Bone fish-hook. Madisonville, Ohio . , ; 5 Z 3 : is
Fig. 185.—Bone fish-hook. Mississippi County, Arkansas . ° . ° . .
Fig. 186.—Bone fish-hook. Orleans County, New York O 6 5 . ° .
Fig. 187.—Bone fish-hook. Clarksviile, Indiana. c : . * A . .
Fig. 188.—Bone fish-hook. Cunningham's Island, Ohio a . : 0 . .
Fig. 189.—Bone fish-hook. Sag Harbor, Long Island, New York 3 > . .
Fig. 190.—Bone fish-hook. Mound Lake, Cass County, Illinois . - z ° .
Fig. 191.—Bone fish-hook. Madisonville, Ohio , 5 . f A 5 : 3
Fig. 192.—Bone fish-hook. Madisonville, Ohio : 6 . . .
Fig. 193.—Fish-hook of deer-horn. Onondaga (?) County, New York . 2 ° .
Figs. 194-195.—Bone fish-hooks. Santa Cruz Island, California . . ° : .
Figs. 196-199.—Bone fish-hooks. Santa Cruz Island, California S c : : .
Fig. 200.—Bone fish-hook. Eskimos, Greenland . : 7 . : . .
Fig. 201.—Fish-hook of reindeer-horn. Eskimos, Chesterfield Inlet, British America 7
Figs. 202—203.—Shell fish-hooks. Santa Cruz Island, California ; x ' : 5
Figs. 204—205.—Shell fish-hooks. Santa Cruz Island, California 5 ' i F a D
Fig. 206.—Shell fish-hook. San Nicolas Island, California

Figs. 207—210.—Shell fish-hooks. Santa Cruz Island, California ; ; ° 0
Fig. 211.—Shell fish-hook. San Miguel Island, California : z : . . .
Fig. 212.—Series of designs illustrative of the method of making fish-hooks of shell °
Fig. 213.—Samoan fish-hook of shell with stone sinker . ° . . d . .
Fig. 214.—Fish-hook of turtle shell (?). Serle Island. : 5 5 : : -
Fig. 215.—Bone fish-hook. New Zealand. “ : : : 5 . . .
Fig. 216.—Copper fish-hook. Mouth of Oconto River, Wisconsin . : ¢ ° °
Figs. 217-—219.—Fish-hooks made of cactus-spines. Mohaves, Arizona. : .

Fig. 220.—Honey-locust twig with spine, cut to resemble a fish-hook - : 3 = :
Fig. 221.—Bone harpoon-head. Goose Island, Casco Bay, Maine . . . . .
Figs. 222-223.—Bone harpoon-heads. San Nicolas Island, California . . . :
Figs. 224—-225.—Bone harpoon-heads. Unalashka Island, Alaska. . . ° .
Fig. 226.—Bone harpoon-head. Greenland Cove, near Damariscotta, Maine . . 4
Fig. 227.—Bone harpoon-head. Livingstone County, New York : ° . .
Fig. 228.—Bone harpoon-head. Puget Sound, Washington Territory a . . .
Fig. 229 —Harpoon-head of deer-horn. Onondaga County, New York . . .

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

» 154—155.—Barbed bronze rods not yet bent into the form of fish-hooks. Peschiera, Italy

XVI LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE.
Fig. 230.—Harpoon-head of elk-horn. Honeoye Falls, New York . : . . . ° f 5 146
Fig. 231.—Bone harpoon-head. Detroit, Michigan , 5 . : . . . . . . 146
Fig. 232.—Bone harpoon-head. Madisonville, Ohio . 7 ‘ . . . . ‘ . C " 146
Fig. 233.—Bone harpoon-head. Atka Island, Alaska. < ° . . . . . ° . . 147
Fig. 234.—Bone harpoon-head. Port Mdller, Peninsula of Aliaska O . . . . : 2 “ 147
Fig. 235.—Bone harpoon-head. Amaknak Island, Alaska 5 . ° : . . . . : : 147
Fig. 236.—Bone harpoon-head. Hodgdon’s Island, Maine. “ . . . . . . : z 148
Fig. 237.—Bone harpoon-head. Muscongus Sound, Maine . . . . . . . . - : 148
Fig. 238.—Bone harpoon-head. Stikine River, Alaska . : : ° . . . ° . . , 149
Fig. 239.—Bone harpoon-head. Fort Wayne, Michigan : , : . . . : 5 149
Fig. 240.—Harpoon-head of deer-horn. Onondaga County, New York 7 . . . . . . Fl 149
Fig. 241.—Bone dart-head. Ontario County, New York : : ; : f : . ° , 5 150
Fig. 242.—Bone dart-head. Goose Island, Casco Bay, Maine . 0 . . ° . ° . , 150
Figs. 243-244.—Bone dart-heads. Adakh Island, Alaska . fs : O Q O : . f . I51
Fig. 245.—Bone dart-head. Amaknak Island, Alaska . : ° a . : : . . 5 I51
Figs. 246-248.—Harpoon-heads of deer-horn. Elbridge, New Work. : Oo 0 . . C 6 152
Fig. 249.—Copper dart-head. Fond du Lac, Wisconsin 5 7 . . . . . . ° 153
Fig. 250.—Copper dart-head. Waukesha County, Wisconsin . : . . . . : : : 153
Fig. 251.—Copper dart head. Fond du Lac, Wisconsin 7 . . . . . : : 5 153
Fig. 252.—Copper harpoon-head. ‘Thlinkets, Baranoff Island, Alaska . . . . . . I : 154
Fig. 253.—Modern stone sinker. Dunkirk, New York . : ° . . . . . . : 5 157
Figs. 254-257.—Stone sinkers. Muncy, Pennsylvania 7 7 . : . G . . r 5 158
Fig. 258.—Stone sinker. Muncy, Pennsylvania : : . . . . . . . . : : 159
Fig. 259.—Stone sinker. Muncy, Pennsylvania - ° Q . . . ° . . 6 A 160
Fig. 260.—Stone sinker. Tennessee ; E = ° . . . . . . . . > : 160
Fig. 261.—Stone sinker. Santa Maria Petapa, Mexico . . : : : . . . . ° : 160
Fig. 262.—Stone sinker. Tiverton, Rhode Island . ' Fi . 5 5 o 5 . A * - 161
Fig. 263.—Stone sinker. Dos Pueblos, California : . . . . . . . . : 5 161
Fig. 264.—Stone sinker. Chilmark, Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts . ri . . C 0 2 : 162
Fig. 265.—Stone sinker. Newport, Rhode Island c : . . . . . . . : S 162
Figs. 266-267.—Stone sinkers. Wickford, Rhode Island 7 0 ° fs . . ° . ; : 163
Fig. 268.—Stone sinker. Tiverton, Rhode Island . ° ° . : . . . ° : : , 163
Fig. 269.—Stone sinker. Milledgeville, Georgia . a ° . ° . ° . 7 3 163
Figs. 270-271.—Stone sinkers. Oregon : s : . ° : . 6 A . 7 164
Fig. 272.—Stone sinker. La Patera, California . . . . . . . . . : . 4 164
Fig. 273.—Stone sinker. Georgia 5 ° ° ° : . ° ° . . ° 5 164
Figs. 274—275.—Stone sinkers. Columbia Chinen Geos a fs . . . . : 6 : 104
Fig. 276.—Stone sinker. Mitchell County, North Carolina . . . . . . . : 6 7 105
Fig. 277.—Stone sinker. Putnam County, Georgia : I = . A . 0 . : o 166
Fig. 278.—Stone sinker. Middleborough, Massachusetts . . ° ° . : . 2 z : 166
Fig. 279.—Stone sinker (?). Santa Cruz Island, California. ' O : : 6 . fs ; 166
Fig. 280.—Stone sinker. Ohio : . z : : : . C . . . ° . . ; 167
Fig. 281.—Eskimo stone sinker. Arctic America . . : . . . . ° . ° 0 : 167
Fig. 282.—Stone sinker. Mound, Licking County, Ohio - . : . ° . . . : 5 169
Fig. 283.—Sinker of specular iron. Hancock County, Illinois : : . : ; . . : : 169
Fig. 284.—Stone sinker. Santa Rosa Island, California : . ° . . . 3 ° : : 169
Fig. 285.—Cast of stone sinker. Louisiana . : : . . : . . . . . : 169
Fig. 286.—Stone sinker. Tennessee 5 : : : . . . . . ' 5 170
Fig. 287.—Stone sinker. Morehouse Parish, ine . . : . . . . . 5 170
Fig. 288.—Sinker of specular iron. Carroll County, Tennessee ; A - 0 ; . . S 7 170
Fig. 289.—Sinker of red hematite. Saint Charles County, Missouri ‘ = . . . . ° . 170
Fig. 290.—Stone sinker. ‘Tampa Bay, Florida ; 0 7 : : . . . . . , 171
Fig. 291.—Sinker of clay-iron stone. Shell-deposit near Mobile, Alabama ° . . . . . 17!

Fig. 292.—Sinker of specular iron. Huntington, Cabell County, West Virginia 0 0 . . ° ° 171

Fig. 293.—Sinker of specular iron. Morehouse Parish, Louisiana. : . . ° . . 8 0 171

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. XVII

PAGE.
Fig. 294.—Stone sinker. Mound, Henderson County, Illinois : ¢ ° 5 : . 7 : : 171
Figs. 295-296.—Stone sinkers. Manatee County, Florida 5 . ' 5 c1 6 S ' : é 172
Fig. 297.—Cast of stone sinker. Ohio . 5 A m . . . ; 5 e . . a q 172
Fig. 298.—Stone sinker. Franklin County, Ohio. - a : A “ 7 ‘ 7 ci ' 172
Fig. 299.—Sinker of specular iron. Mound, Licking County, Ohio 2 ° 2 . . 5 : : 173
Fig. 300.—Stone sinker. Beverly, Massachusetts . 5 . 0 f . a . | a ; 5 174
Fig. 301.—Stone sinker. Eastport, Maine . 7 a A : 5 3 : fi . : 174
Fig. 302.—Stone sinker. South Kingston, Rhode ised a a s 0 . 0 . ° A A 174
Fig. 303.—Stone sinker. Guadaloupe, California . : ° ° . . = - . 4 k . 175
Fig. 304.—Stone sinker. Massachusetts , . . O G ci A 7 * ; . 3 175
Fig. 305.—Stone sinker. Marblehead, Mreereecon: f O . * 5 5 ' . PS
Fig. 306.—Stone sinker. Sarasota Bay, Florida . : 7 < . Z ° : : c ' - 175
Fig. 307.--Stone sinker. Middleborough, Massachusetts A 4 fs - 2 . . 5 : ‘ 175
Fig. 308.—Stone sinker. Santa Cruz Island, California . . . . : . . . , . 175
Fig. 309.—Stone sinker. Santa Rosa Island, California a 7 r a ; 3 : A : 176
Fig. 310.—Stone sinker. Saint Croix River, Maine : A e fs 4 ; 5 ; rs 4 176
Fig. 311.—Stone sinker. Santa Cruz Island, California : q 5 : . ' Q . f : 176
Tig. 312.—Stone sinker. California : : ° . : . . 5 ° : : 176
Fig. 313.—Stone sinker (?), San Miguel island California . . . ° : . . ° - : 177
Fig. 314.—Sinker of specular iron. Morehouse Parish, Louisiana . A : : cC - 0 ; : 177
Fig. 315.—Stone sinker. Arkansas : : , ° q ° . . , ° 0 : 177
Fig. 316.—Stone sinker. San Miguel Island, California 4 . . . . . c . c . 177
Fig. 317.—Stone sinker. Chester, Illinois . a : 5 x ‘ . < : 3 fs 2 F 177
Fig. 318.—Stone sinker. Northwest Coast . : f ° : . . . ; : : F : 178
Fig. 319.—Cast of stone sinker. California . 6 : . : ; ° ; 2 < é : 178
Fig. 320.—Stone sinker. Cleveland, Ohio . o : : a . . : . : " 3 178
Fig. 321.—Eskimo stone sinker. Ukivok Island, ee ; : 7 : ; . c : 6 : 179
Figs. 322-323.—Stone sinkers. Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming . 4 : . ; . . ; 180
Fig. 324.—Copper sinker. Mound, Marietta, Ohio : 5 8 ; 6 3 : 5 ° : : 181
Fig. 325.—Copper sinker. Mound, Lake County, Ohio . . : . ° : : : ‘ . : 181
Fig. 326.—Cast of shell, prepared to serve as a sinker(?). Florida . : : . ° é 7 182
Fig. 327.—Shell sinker. Sarasota Bay, Florida 5 5 5 : : . : : : : : 182
Fig. 328.—Cast of shell sinker. Florida 6 : . . ° . 5 C ; : 182
Fig. 329.—Shell sinker (?). Shell-deposit, Blennerhassett’s Island, West Virginia ° ° . ° q : 182
Fig. 330.—Stone fish-cutter. Blackstone, Massachusetts : : . : : ' 5 . : : 154
Fig. 331.—Cast of stone fish-cutter. Newark Valley, New York : A Q : , e 2 , ss 184
Fig. 332.—Stone fish-cutter, Norristown, Pennsylvania . : 5 : 5 . : 9 : , . 185
Figs. 333-334.—Stone fish-cutters, one in wooden handle. Eskimos, Norton Sound, Alaska , ; ; : 186
Figs. 335-336.—lIron and stone fish-cutters, that of iron inserted into a wooden handle. Makah Indians, Neah
Bay, Washington Territory . 4 ; : : F , 5 : ; 187
Fig. 337-—Boat, exhumed near Savannah, Georgia : 188
Fig. 338.—Wooden toy-boat. Santa Cruz Island, California . c : : 5 5 F _ . : 190
Fig. 339.—Wooden bailing-scoop (?). Santa Cruz Island, California F 5 ° ° ° : 6 : IQ!
Fig. 340.—Paddle. Long Island, New York e : ; e : : : : . A 0 : IgI
Fig. 341.—Anchor-stone. Susquehanna River, near Sayre, Pennsylvania 7 5 c ° . : . 193
Fig. 342.—Anchor-stone. Illinois River, near the mouth of the Sangamon, Illinois : ; . : : 194
Fig. 343.—‘ Underrunning rock.’ Gloucester, Massachusetts 6 : é ; . 6 ‘ c z 196
Fig. 344.— Killick.” Rockport, Massachusetts . : : . : 2 5 ; C i ; ‘ 197
Fig. 345.—Earthworks in the Etowah Valley, Georgia 198
Fig. 346.—Stone fish-pen. Saratoga County, New York : : : 5 . F : ran . 201
Figs. 347—348.—Stone pipes representing a heron feeding on a fish, and an otter with a fish in its are Mound
near Chillicothe, Ohio , F 6 5 5 : " : . . : . . 205
Fig. 349.—Clay pipe in the shape of a fish (?). Chattanooga, Tennessee : A . 5 5 : ; 206
Fig. 350.—Piece of slate worked into the likeness of a fish. Stikine River, Alaska 3 j : , . 207
Fig. 351.—Fish-shaped object of /e/iofés-shell. San Nicolas Island, California : . ; : . : 207

XVIIT LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Fig.
Fig.
Fig.
Fig.
Fig.
Fig.

Figs.

Fig.
Fig.
Fig.
Fig.
Fig.
Fig.

Figs.

Fig.

Figs.

Fig.

Figs.
Figs.

Fig.

Figs.

Fig.
Fig.

Figs.
Figs.
Figs.

Fig.
Fig.

Figs.
Figs.
Figs.

Fig.
Fig.

352.—Stone carving representing a fish. Ipswich, Massachusetts . é .
353-—-Stone carving in the form of a cetacean. Seabrook, New Hampshire j
254.—Stone carving representing a cetacean. San Nicolas Island, California .
355-—-Stone carving in the shape of a seal. San Nicolas Island, California .
356.—Clay vessel made in imitation of the sun-fish. Phillips County, Arkansas
357.—Fish-shaped clay vessel. Southeastern Missouri 0 5 é ° 7 ‘ ‘ :
358-359.—Fac-simile delineations illustrating Aztec navigation and fishing. From the Mendoza Codex
360.—Plan showing the location of the principal shell-deposit at Keyport, New Jersey
361.—Section of under-ground part of a hut. Oregon

362.—Canoe of the Beothucs. Newfoundland : fs c
363.—Methods of fishing practised by the Virginia Indians. After De Bry
364.—Virginia Indians smoking fish. After De Bry

365.—Virginia Indians engaged in boat-making. After De Bry ff
366-367.—Bull-hide boat and paddle of poplar wood, made by Minnetarees at non Berthold, Davats.
368.—Makah harpoon-head and line : .

369-370.—Makah whaling-canoe and paddle

371.—Makah canoe showing method of scarfing : q . fs
372-373-—Stone sinkers. Ometepec Island, Nicaragua 7 ; . ‘
374-377.—Sinkers made of fragments of clay vessels. Ometepec Island, Nicaragua
378.—Stone carving in the form of a fish. Costa Rica
379-380.—Fish-representations of gold. Chiriqui, United States of Gnlenbia
381.—Gold fish-hook. State of Cauca, United States of Colombia .
382.—Wooden mask with appended bags. Peru 5
383-384.—Reel with line and two copper fish-hooks, and stone sinker. Peru .
385-387.—Copper fish-hooks. Ancon, Peru . 0 F 7 . 0 7
358—389.—Portions of nets. Ancon, Peru 5 . 0 ° °
390.—-Fish-shaped clay vessel. Peru ; : : . . . . .
391.—Fish-shaped clay vessel. Arica, Peru Q 3 ° ° 3 .
392-393.—Fish-shaped clay vessels. Trujillo, Peru qi . : > 0
394-395.—Clay vessel and ornamentation on it enlarged. Peru 6
396-403.—Fish-shaped silver ornaments. From one of the Chincha Islands, Peru
404.—Fish-shaped silver ornament. Gran Chimu, Peru. . 6 . .
405.—Piece of cloth with inwoven fish-designs. isco, Peru . . . .

PART I.—EUROPE.

1—PALAOLITHIC AGE.

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS.

THE long period during which man in Europe was not acquainted with the
use of metal, and made his implements and weapons of substances less service-
able, yet more immediately offered by the hand of nature, such as wood, bone,
horn, but especially stone, is generally termed the Stone Age. It has been
divided into two epochs, namely, the earlier or palzeolithic (old-stone) age, and
the later or neolithic (new-stone) age, these divisions marking unlike conditions
in the existence of the ancient inhabitants of Europe. During the palzeolithic
age the climate of Europe was colder than at present, owing to a refrigeration
caused by glacial influences, and man then co-existed, at least in some parts of
the continent, with animals forming a fauna distinct from that of later times.
The evidences of his presence at that remote epoch, in the shape of relics left
by him, have been derived from quaternary drift-beds and from caves, and will
be more minutely considered under these heads. This age presents man under
somewhat differing aspects, a separate treatment of which appears preferable to
a synoptical description. As a special feature of the period, however, it should
be mentioned that the stone implements pertaining to it, and nearly always made
of flint, are, so far as known, simply fashioned by flaking and chipping, the
practice of improving such implements by grinding and polishing being con-
sidered as characteristic of neolithic times. The art of making vessels of clay,
it may also be added, appears to have been unknown to paleeolithic man.

DERE Dik Ent:

Implements and Animal Remains—The flint implements found in the qua-
ternary deposits along certain rivers in France and England are the oldest objects
fashioned by man of which we thus far have any positive knowledge.* These

* The existence of “tertiary man” in Europe, still involved in uncertainty, is not touched upon in this

(1)

publication.

2 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

drift-beds, formed by layers of sand, gravel, and loam, also contain the bones of
animals of that period, some of which are now extinct, like the mammoth and a
few other species of elephant, several kinds of rhinoceros, the urus, and Trish
elk; while others, as the hippopotamus, the cave-bear, cave-lion, and cave-hyena,
may still survive under more or less modified forms. Certain quadrupeds, which
have left their osseous remains in the quaternary deposits of Western Europe,
still exist as before, but no longer in their ancient habitats, as, for instance, the
reindeer and the musk-ox. The former inhabits now the coldest district of
Europe, and the musk-ox, entirely extinct in that part of the world, is at present
confined to the snow-regions bordering on Hudson’s Bay. On the whole, the
fauna of the European drift was richer and more varied than that of our time,
for it comprised, besides the extinct mammalians, most of the now existing
species. Yet, as mentioned, the temperature of Europe was lower than at
present, or else such quadrupeds as the mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, reindeer,
and musk-ox—all fitted for a cold climate—could not have subsisted in the lati-
tudes where their fossil bones now occur.

The preceding condensed statements were made for the purpose of indicating,
to some extent at least, the surroundings of the human beings who lived at the
long-past period here under consideration. That they occupied a very low
position in the scale of human development is shown by the character of the flint
tools preserved in the quaternary deposits. These ‘ drift-implements” were
first discovered, about forty years ago, by M. Boucher de Perthes, in the ancient
eravel-beds of the river Somme, in the neighborhood of Abbeville, in Picardy,
and afterward found at Saint-Acheul, near Amiens, in the same province. They
have subsequently been exhumed from corresponding deposits in other parts of
France, and in various localities of England. The implements were split from
nodules of flint so frequently occurring in the chalk; some of them even exhibit
portions of the chalky crust which usually surrounds these flinty bodies. The
prevailing forms of the flint tools are those of very roughly wrought large spear-
heads, and of oval or almond-shaped flattish pieces, sharpened around their
edges, and likewise exhibiting, at least in most cases, no high degree of skill on
the part of their makers. The tools of the latter kind are sometimes denomina-
ted “ hatchets,” it being believed that a number of them were inserted in cleft
sticks, and fastened with sinews or strips of hide of animals, thus fulfilling the
purpose which their name implies. To these forms must be added flakes of
various shapes and sizes, many of which, doubtless, were split off during the
process of fashioning the more finished tools already mentioned. Others may
have been detached intentionally, to serve as cutting-tools, and a few are worked
into a rude scraper-form. The shape of the implements designated as spear-
heads and hatchets depended, in all probability, much on the original outline of
the chalk-flints from which they were manufactured. These nodules are mostly

DRIFT-IMPLEMENTS. 3

of a roundish or elongated form; and in making their tools the ancient people
knocked two of them together, until flattish fragments of suitable size came off,
which they brought into the required shape by blows aimed at their circumference.
Hence many of the implements are not exactly of oval or spear-like forms,
but present shapes intermediate between them. As a rule, the narrower or more
pointed end of these instruments is the one adapted for cutting. The tools of
the spear-head type usually vary in length from six to eight inches, though larger
ones have been found. Many of them seem to have been used with the hand,
the end opposite the pointed part being often thick and massive, to facilitate
handling; and in some the lower end is not fashioned at all, but left in its origi-
nal state, when the form of the flint presented a suitable handle. Others, which
are worked thinner at the lower end, perhaps were fastened to poles, and thus
actually served as spear-heads. Arrow-points have not been found in the drift,
and hence it appears probable that the drift-people were ignorant of archery.

It can hardly be supposed that the types of implements here briefly noticed
exhaust the stock of tools or weapons used by the early contemporary of the
mammoth, for others, made of less durable materials, such as bone and horn,
may have decayed in the gravel-beds, leaving no traces to indicate their former
presence. None of the latter kind, as far as I know, have been discovered in the
drift-deposits.

Fra. 1.—Drift-implement. Saint-Acheul. (85095).

4 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

Implements used as Ice-picks (?)—Though the savage men who formed the
simple stone instruments under notice depended for subsistence on the chase and,
presumably, on fishing, we are in the dark as to the methods employed by them
in these pursuits. The quaternary beds have yielded no objects directly referable
to fishing; yet it has been thought that some of the thick-handled pointed flint
implements may have been used for making holes in the ice, in order to catch
fish or aquatic mammals frequenting the great rivers at that time. In the
arctic regions, it is known, the natives dig holes in the ice, and patiently wait for
hours at the apertures, until the seals, coming to the surface to breathe, can be
struck and secured for food. Amphibious animals, perhaps, ascended the quater-
nary rivers, and were captured as stated.*

I give in Fig.1 on page 3 a representation of a drift-implement from Saint-
Acheul, near Amiens, which may have served as an ice-pick. The lower part,
or handle, as will be seen, shows the unaltered surface of the chalk-flint; the
worked portion is somewhat chisel-shaped. It belongs to the series of European
drift-implements exhibited in the United States National Museum.

JAVES AND ROCK-SHELTERS.

Retreats of Man during the Reindeer-period—More definite results bearing
upon the condition of the early inhabitants of Europe have been obtained of late
years by the careful exploration of caves in England, France, Belgium, Germany,
Switzerland, and other European countries. The caves to which I shall refer
were resorted to by palzeolithic man,; who has left in them such traces of his
occupancy as enable us to form a more or less distinct view of his mode of life.
Explorations of these early sheltering-places of man, I may state, are carried
on with great energy in Europe, and already have given rise to a literature of
considerable extent. The results, however, present only local differences, while,
on the whole, the conclusions arrived at are the same, namely, that in times
anteceding any historical record or tradition, tribes ef savage men lived in cer-
tain parts of Europe contemporaneously with various species of animals, which
have either become extinct, or have migrated to other parts of Europe, or even to
other continents. However, as it is not my purpose to give an account of cave-
researches in Europe, but of prehistoric fishing, my observations will chiefly
refer to those caves which have furnished the most abundant material for illus-
trating the latter subject. Among them a group situated in the valley of the

* Sauvage (Dr. H. E.): On Fishing during the Reindeer-Period; Reliquiw Aquitanice; 1,p.219. The editor
of this work, Professor T. R. Jones, adds in a note: ‘Some roughly dressed flints found in the quaternary gravels
may have been ‘sinkers’ and imitation baits, such as the Eskimos use in fishing and angling.’’—It is questionable
whether the drift-men were far enough advanced to resort to such devices.

+ Some caves in Europe undoubtedly served as human habitations in neolithic times.

ROCK-SHELTERS. 5

Vézere, an affluent of the Dordogne, which flows through a portion of South-
western France, known in ancient times under the name of Aquitania, chiefly
claims our attention. The valley of the Vézére is very rich in caves, which
oceur in the picturesque formations of cretaceous limestone bordering on the
meandering river, and form a peculiar feature in its beautiful scenery. These
caves, however, are not at all distinguished by vast proportions, some being mere
hollows or “rock-shelters” (abris in French), owing their origin to the disinte-
gration of soft strata which offered less resistance to atmospheric influences than
the harder rocks covering them. In times long past, rude hunters and fishers
used these hollowed rocks as dwelling-places, leaving there abundant tokens of
their occupancy, which afford the means of judging of their conditions of
existence.

The best-known of these caves and shelters—situated on both sides of the
Vézere at short distances from each other, and all embraced in the Department
of the Dordogne—are Le Moustier, La Madelaine, Laugerie Haute, Laugerie
Basse, Gorge @ Enfer, Les Eyzies, and Cro-Magnon. They were conjointly explored
by M. Edouard Lartet, a distinguished French paleontologist, and Mr. Henry
Christy, an English gentleman of wealth and great scientific acquirements.
Their efforts resulted in the publication of the “ Reliquise Aquitanice,” a com-
prehensive and richly-illustrated work, which, notwithstanding its Latin title, is
written in the English language.*

In prehistoric times the above-named localities, or “stations,” as they have
been called, undoubtedly were inhabited by man for a lengthened period, during
which the numerical proportion of some of the then existing species of animals
seems to have undergone changes, while in the same epoch a decided progress is
traceable in the mechanical acquirements of man. So much may be inferred
from the animal remains and works of art found in the different caves of the
Vézere.y Generally speaking, the refuse left by the cave-men, or troglodytes, in
the caves under notice consists of bones (many of them broken for extracting
the marrow), pebbles, and articles of flint, horn, and bone, intermingled with
charcoal in fragments and dust: the whole often being cemented together, and
forming a kind of tufa. These accumulations sometimes extend to a depth of

* Reliquize Aquitanice ; being Contributions to the Archeology and Paleontology of Périgord and the adjoin-
ing Provinces of Southern France. By Edouard Lartet and Henry Christy. Edited by Thomas Rupert Jones.
1865-75. London, 1875.

+Sir Charles Lyell remarks, concerning the unequal representation of animal remains in the caves, as follows :

““M. Lartet has founded a classification upon the prevalence of certain animals in the débris ; the mammoth
and cave-bear characterizing the earlier, and the reindeer the later deposits. But as the same species occur through-
out, and as most of the remains were brought there by man, the abundance of any particular animal may not
indicate the prevalence of that species at the time, but only the success of the hunters, or the sojourn of migratory
animals in the neighborhood.’’—The Geological Evidences of the Antiquity of Man; London and Philadelphia,
1878; p. 135.

6 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

eight or ten feet, and a length of sixty or seventy feet. The cave-people of the
Vézere district were more advanced and lived at a later period than the men
whose implements are found in the drift-beds of the Somme and of other rivers.
These conclusions have been drawn from the fauna of the caves and from the
greater skill displayed by the cave-dwellers in the manufacture of their imple-
ments of war and peace. At the time when these caves served as the abodes of
hunting-tribes, the mammoth, cave-hyena, cave-lion, cave-bear, gigantic Irish
deer, and others, had not yet become extinct, but had apparently much decreased
in number, while the reindeer, now inhabiting the northernmost portions of
Europe, was prevailing,—for which reason this epoch has been styled the Reindeer-
period by archeologists. Together with the reindeer, as common in the time of
its preponderance, must be mentioned the horse, aurochs, ibex, and chamois,
the last two of which have now left the lowlands and sought refuge in the more
congenial temperature of Alpine heights. The Antilope saiga, an animal which
now inhabits portions of Russia and Asia, belonged at that time to the fauna of
Europe, as shown by a number of its bones found by M. Lartet and others. Re-
mains of the mammoth and of the other extinct quadrupeds previously mentioned
are of very rare occurrence in these caves, insomuch that it would appear doubt-
ful whether the cave-men co-existed with them, if their representations, traced
on horn and bone, or carved from such substances, had not been found in some
of the caves. The character of the cave-fauna indicates a still rigid climate.

The animals most frequently hunted by the troglodytes, and furnishing their
principal food, were the reindeer and the horse; the first-named quadruped being
of additional value to them on account of its antlers, which they worked very
skillfully into implements of various descriptions. It appears, however, that
they fed on every kind of animal they could obtain by force or cunning, not
excepting carnivores, such as wolves and foxes. Remains of the stag are said to
be rare, and still rarer those of the wild boar. At some stations bones of birds
and fishes occur abundantly. Further on I shall speak more in detail concerning
the latter remains. It does not appear that these people kept any domesticated
animals; neither the reindeer nor the horse seems to have been tamed by them.
They had no sheep, goats, or cattle, and there were no dogs to protect the cave-
men’s rude dwellings or to share with them the excitement of the chase.

The reindeer-hunters of the Dordogne displayed, as has been stated, much
more skill in the manufacture of implements than the people whose relics are
found in the river-gravels and in the cave-deposits of earlier date. Flint con-
tinued to be the kind of stone almost exclusively used by them; but the articles
made of this material show a great variety of forms, and sometimes a finish
which almost assimilates them to the manufactures of the later or neolithic phase
of the stone age. Yet, the people of the Vézere Valley were still ignorant of the
art of grinding and polishing stone implements, no article thus improved having

THE REINDEER-PERIOD. 7

been discovered in the cave-deposits, excepting small boulders with a shallow
cup-shaped cavity ground in on one side, which were found at several stations.
They may have served as paint-mortars or for bruising vegetable substances.
The accumulations in the caves contain “innumerable chips and countless thou-
sands of blades of flint, varying in size from lance-heads, long enough and stout
enough to have been used against the largest animals, down to lancets not larger
than the blade of a pen-knife, and piercing-instruments of the size of the smallest
bodkin.”* Quite numerous are the so-called nuclei. or cores, that is, blocks of
flint from which flakes have been detached, to be afterward prepared for definite
uses, such as cutting, sawing, etc. Well-made spear-heads of flint have been
found, and also objects resembling arrow-heads in size and shape. Flint scrapers,
like those still used by the Eskimos for cleaning hides, have occurred in great
number at different stations, as, for instance, at Cro-Magnon. The flint imple-
ments of Le Moustier somewhat approach the drift-types, and are generally of a
ruder character than the chipped articles found at the other stations, which fact,
in connection with various other circumstances, renders it almost certain that this
cave was inhabited by man at a much earlier epoch than any other of the group
under notice. The contents of the caves, I may state in this place, exhibit no
uniformity in the products of human industry, having been inhabited by the
hunters for a very long period, during which they improved perceptibly in the
mechanical arts. I must refrain, however, from entering upon a detailed descrip-
tion of each cave or shelter, as it appears sufficient for my purpose to present a
general view of troglodytic life in the valley of the Vézére.

The implements of horn and bone, which evince still more skill and patient
labor than the flint tools just briefly noticed, were likewise manufactured in the
caves, many unfinished articles of this class having been discovered in the rub-
bish. Among such relics I will mention chisels, awls, needles with diminutive
holes, round and tapering lance-heads (with beveled lower ends for insertion into
wooden shafts), harpoon-shaped darts, large and small,+ spoon-like instruments
(supposed to have served for extracting marrow from bones), whistles, and
various other objects, the use of which is not always quite evident. These tools
and weapons are mostly cut from reindeer-horn, a material of great hardness,
and therefore well fitted for the purposes to which it was applied. Generally
speaking, articles of reindeer-antler are most abundant in the caves supposed to
have been the later retreats of the ancient hunters of the Vézere Valley.

There are indications that the cave-dwellers were not insensible to the charms
of personal decoration. They probably painted themselves, in the fashion of still
existing savage tribes, with red color, which they scraped off from pieces of soft

* Lartet and Christy: Reliquize Aquitanice ; I, p. 21.
+ To be considered hereafter.

8 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

red hematite. Such pieces, with the marks of scraping, have been found in the
eaves. They also employed, for ornamental purposes, shells, which they pierced
with holes, in order to string them together. In the cave of Cro-Magnon* were
found about three hundred pierced shells (mostly Littorina littorea), all belong-
ing to still existing marine species, and probably obtained from the shores of the
Atlantic Ocean. At other stations pierced fossil marine shells, doubtless derived
from the Faluns or shell-marls of Touraine, have occurred. They further wore
small oval plates of ivory, pierced for suspension, and, perhaps, as trophies of
the chase or as amulets, perforated teeth of the wolf, urus, ibex, reindeer, horse,
and other animals.

Strange as it appears, these people evinced, notwithstanding their otherwise
low condition, a decided taste for drawing, and even for carving. Their delinea-
tions, traced with a pointed flint on horn, bone, ivory, or slate, consist occasion-
ally of geometrical figures composed of parallel lines, rows of dots, lozenges, ete.,
but mostly of outlines of fishes or of quadrupeds, such as the horse, reindeer,
stag, ibex, aurochs, mammoth, and others. These animals appear either singly
or in groups, and often exhibit their characteristic features in a degree to render
them recognizable almost at the first glance. Sometimes, however, the drawings
resemble the first attempts of children at delineating animals. Such represen-
tations have chiefly been found at the stations of Les Eyzies, Laugerie Basse,
and La Madelaine. Of special interest are those of the mammoth, of which
several have been discovered, engraved as well as carved, and showing the
characteristics of the extinct proboscidian so faithfully, that no one could have
executed them who had not seen the living original.

The figures of animals are often traced on the stems or beams of reindeer-
antlers, which are in such cases carefully worked, and pierced at the broader
extremity with round holes, varying in number from one to four. These remark-
able objects cannot have served as weapons, being too light for such an applica-
tion; yet their frequent occurrence and uniformity of type show that they pos-
sessed a conventional significance, and therefore have been regarded as badges
of authority or distinction worn by the chiefs or prominent men of the tribe, like
the batons which in our day indicate the dignity of a marshal. The number of
holes in these decorated reindeer-horns is thought by some to have been propor-
tionate to the position occupied by the wearer. Supposing this interpretation to
be correct, it would follow that the troglodytes already were sufficiently numerous
to form a society in which the distinctions of rank were recognized.

Before concluding this short general account of the troglodytes who once

* This cave, discovered in 1868 in the course of railroad-labors, was, to judge from the different layers, first
merely resorted to at different times by hunters, but afterward used as a habitation, until the accumulated rubbish
gradually raised the floor so as to leave but little room between it and the roof. The cave was then abandoned by
the living, but still served them asa burial-place for their dead. The remains of five individuals were found in it.

THE REINDEER-PERIOD. 9

dwelled in the valley of the Vézeére, it may not be out of place to review their
condition of existence in a few words, in order to show in what respects they
differed from later and more advanced men of the European stone age, to whom
reference will be made hereafter :—

They subsisted by hunting and fishing, adding, as may be assumed, to their
animal food such fruits as were spontaneously offered by nature. They had made
no steps toward an agricultural state, and domesticated animals probably were
entirely wanting. As dwellings they used caves, overhanging rocks, and doubt-
less rude huts constructed of boughs, skins, or other materials. Their tools and
weapons were made, sometimes very skillfully, of stone, horn, and bone. They
employed only chipped stone implements, and were unacquainted with the art of
making vessels of clay. Their dress consisted of skins sewed together with
sinews. An artistic tendency, which manifests itself in primitive attempts at
drawing and carving, must be regarded as a feature distinguishing them from the
populations of the later stone age.

As may be imagined, the stations of the reindeer-period, in France,are not
confined to the valley of the Vézere, many others having been discovered in
different parts of that country, and in Europe generally. But I know of a few
only, in addition, which have yielded relics perhaps designed for fishing-purposes,
and these are the “ Kesslerloch,” near Thayngen, in the Canton of Schaffhausen,
Switzerland, and Kent’s Cavern, near Torquay, Devonshire, England. The Swiss
cave contained a large number of animal remains, among them those of the rein-
deer and alpine hare in greatest abundance, implements of flint, harpoon-heads
and other objects of bone and horn, and even engraved designs of animals.

Kent’s Cavern appears to have been resorted to by man at an earlier period
than any of the French caves previously mentioned; for there were found in it
abundantly not only the remains of the horse and reindeer, but also those of the
cave-lion, cave-hyena, and cave-bear; and while bones of the mammoth are not
very common, remains of the woolly rhinoceros have occurred quite frequently.*
The flint implements of Kent’s Cavern are not unlike those from the caves of
the Vézére Valley. Only a few objects of horn and bone have come to light,
three of them being harpoon-heads.

As far as I know, only one representation of an animal has been discovered
in an English cave, namely, the delineation of a horse (head and fore-quarters)
on a smoothed fragment of a rib. This specimen of ancient art was met with in
the Robin-Hood Cave, at Cresswell Crags, Northeastern Derbyshire.

The question to what race or races the men of the palzeolithic epoch belonged
is yet undecided. Comparatively few human remains referable to quaternary
times have been discovered, and the skulls which were in a condition to permit
examination, exhibit both the brachycephalous and dolichocephalous types. The
attempts to identify these men with historically known or still existing popula-

* Teeth of the sabre-toothed tiger (Machairodus latidens), first noticed in the tertiary, were also found.

10 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

tions, such as Lapps and Finns, are, for the present, merely speculative in char-
acter. Their surroundings compelled them to live much in the manner of the
Eskimos, but this is no proof that they were Eskimos, as some are inclined to
believe.* At any rate, they are regarded as men differing in race from those
occupying Hurope in the later or neolithic period, to which reference will be
made in the sequel.

T now pass over to a consideration of the piscatorial pursuits carried on by
the cave-men of the Vézére and of other districts, treating first of the fish-
remains discovered in the caves, then of the implements supposed to have been
employed by the troglodytes for obtaining fish, and lastly of the engraved delin-
eations of fishes and aquatic mammals rescued from the cave-rubbish.

Fish-remains.—They have occurred abundantly at La Madelaine, in the
cave of Les Eyzies, and particularly in the rock-shelter of Bruniquel, situated
on the left bank of the river Aveyron, in the Department of Tarn-et-Garonne,
and not far from Montauban. In some caves of the Vézére Valley (Le Moustier,
Gorge d’Enfer, Cro-Magnon), which are supposed to have been inhabited at an
early time, when the reindeer was less numerous than it became afterward, no
fish-bones, and hardly any bird-remains, have been found, and these are just the
stations in which barbed darts of reindeer-horn were absent. ‘There was not,
therefore,” says M. Edouard Lartet, ‘in the mode of living an absolute conform-
ity between the people of these two periods, though inhabiting the same country,
and in the neighborhood of the river, rich probably with fish then as now. Could
it be that the more ancient people had no good fishing-implements? Or, per-
haps, were they in the habit of eating their fish raw on the banks of the river,
whilst their descendants, or successors of a different race, preferred to take their
fish to the caves and shelters where they cooked their other articles of food ?
Indeed, some modern travelers tell us of existing savages living near the sea and
yet ignorant of the means of obtaining fish therefrom as an article of food.”+

Dr. Paul Broca, in speaking of the earlier retreats in the Vézére Valley,
expresses himself quite positively on that point. ‘ Man,” he says, “ hunted then
the smaller animals as well as large game, but had not yet learned how to reach
the fish.’{ It does not appear at all probable to me that the more ancient cave-
dwellers should have neglected the practice of obtaining fish in some way. The
absence of fish-bones in certain caves may be owing to causes which escape our
perception at this time.

* The Eskimos are decidedly dolichocephalous.

+ Lartet (Edouard): Remarks on the Fauna found in the Cave of Cro Magnon; Reliquiw Aquitanice; TI,
p- 95.

{Broca: The Troglodytes or Cave-Dwellers of the Valley of the Vézére; Smithsonian Report for 1872;

p. 323. [Translation of an address delivered before the French Association for the Advancement of Science].

FISH-REMAINS. 11

The remains of the salmon have been found abundantly in the breccia of a
number of caves in the Dordogne district and in neighboring regions in the
South of France, and hence it may be concluded that this species of fish served
largely for food among the people of the reindeer-age. Yet, among the numerous
salmon-remains, which were carefully examined by Dr. H. E. Sauvage, not a
single entire skeleton has been discovered. He has seen only portions of the
vertebral column, as if nothing but the edible part of the fish had been brought
to the caves. Had the salmon-heads been there, they would have been as well
preserved as those of the small cyprinoids which are found in the same deposits.
He refers to some species of salmon common in the Northwest of America, as
Salmo quinnat, Richardson, Salmo Gairdneri, Richardson, Salmo paucidens, Rich-
ardson, Salmo lycaodon, Pallas, and Salmo proteus, Pallas, and then continues :—

“ Unfortunately we have no materials for the study and comparison of the
osteology of these different salmons; hence it is impossible for us to refer any of
the salmon-bones found in the reindeer-caves to one rather than another of
these species. Indeed, we have been unable to recognize any difference between
the salmon vertebrze from the caves and those of the living Salmo salar, Linne,
although we have taken care to compare vertebrze from the same region and of
the same size, derived from individuals presumably of the same age.

“We know that the salmon has a very wide geographical distribution,
the same species being met with in Scandinavia, Russia, Germany, France,
Galicia, Britain, Iceland, and in North America, according to Mitchill, Storer,
Richardson, DeKay, Giinther, and other naturalists; the salmon reaching very
high latitudes.

“The mammalian fauna of the reindeer-age is that of the boreal regions of
to-day; the birds killed by the cave-dwellers of Périgord* are the birds of this
region; the shells they used for ornament, obtained from the shores of the
Atlantic and Mediterranean, are such as live there still. It is therefore highly
probable, not to say certain, that the existing Salmo salar was the common salmon
of the Dordogne, affording food to the cave-dwellers of the Vézere.”+

It is worthy of notice that at the present time the salmon does not come up
as high as the Vézére, nor even to that part of the Dordogne, into which the
Vézere empties. “A few leagues below the confluence of the two streams, not far
from Lalinde,” says Dr. Broea, “there exists in the bed of the Dordogne a bank
of rocks, which in high water forms a rapid and at low water a regular cascade,
called the Saut de la Gratusse. This is the present limit of the salmon, and as, in
the days of the troglodytes, they did not stop here, we must conclude that the level
of the Dordogne since then has lowered, either by the wearing down of the bed

* An old division of France, which now forms the Department of Dordogne and a part of that of Gironde.

+ Sauvage: On Fishing during the Reindeer-Period ; Reliquie Aquitanice; I, p. 221.

12 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

of the river, which uncovered the rocks, or by loss of a portion of the waters.*
Another fish of the salmon tribe, a trout, doubtless the common trout (Sa/mo
fario or Trutta fario), was also caught by the cave-men, but it does not seem to
have been extensively used as an article of food. Remains of the pike (Esox
lucius) are not wanting in the Dordogne caves; but they are less abundant than
those of the salmon. The pike, says Dr. Sauvage, is common throughout Europe,
from Scandinavia to Turkey, Northern Asia and North America, and attains a
large development in cold countries.

Together with the species just mentioned, some other fishes were taken by
the troglodytes of the Vézére district. Dr. Sauvage found in their hearth-stuffs
the remains of the white bream (Abramis blicca), now common in Holland, Eng-
land, France, and Germany; also bones of the bream or carp-bream (Abramis
brama), of the dace (Squalius leuciscus), and of the chub (Squalius cephalus), all
of which are now distributed from the North of Europe to the Pyrenees, and

belong to the cyprinoid or carp family.

“To resume, the salmon appears to have been of great importance as food
with the cave-dwellers of Périgord, and it is probable that they migrated in
search of this fish; whilst in their every-day fishing they caught trout, pike,
bream, white bream, dace, and chub.” +

Fishing and Fishing-implements—It seems to be a prevailing opinion that
man was a fish-hunter before he became a fish-catcher, or, in other words, that
the spearing and shooting of fish preceded the methods of capturing them by
means of lines and nets. However that may be, there have been found in the
eave-débris of Southern France bone implements which are identical in shape
with a class still used for catching fishes and birds. I allude to small bone rods
tapering toward both ends, and sometimes grooved around the middle, to facili-
tate the fastening of a line. Such a primitive fishing-utensil—it hardly can be
called a fish-hook—is properly baited, and when swallowed by a fish or bird,
cannot be disgorged, and the creature falls a prey to man.

These pointed rods are employed in fishing on the Northwest Coast of
America, as, for instance, by the Makah Indians, who inhabit the region about
Cape Flattery, in Washington Territory. ‘“ For very small fish, like perch or
rock-fish,” says Mr. James G. Swan, “they simply fasten a small piece of bone
to a line of sinews. The bone is made as sharp as a needle at both ends, and is
tied in the middle.” $

I give in Fig. 2 the representation of one of a series of double-pointed and

* Broca: The Troglodytes; p. 328.
} Sauvage: On Fishing during the Reindeer-Period ; Reliquize Aquitanice; I, p. 225, et passim.

t{Swan: The Indians of Cape Flattery, at the Entrance to the Strait of Fuca, Washington Territory ; No.
220 of Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge; Washington, 1869; p. 41.

DOUBLE-POINTED BONE IMPLEMENTS. ies

grooved bone implements in the United States National Museum, obtained from
Eskimos of Norton Sound, in Alaska, by Mr. E. W. Nelson, who went to that
region in 1877, and remained there about four years, engaged in investigations

HI-

Fig. 2—Double-pointed bone implement used in catching birds. Eskimos, Norton Sound, Alaska.
(48571).

in the interest of the United States Signal Office and the National Museum.
These pointed rods, Mr. Nelson informs me, are used by the natives for catching
sea-gulls and murres, which they eat, using also the skins of the latter as a
material for coats. A cord made of braided grass, and from fifteen to eighteen
inches long, is looped to the groove of these pointed bones, and fastened laterally
with the other end to a trawl-line kept extended by anchored buoys,* the bone
being baited with a small fish, into which it is inserted lengthwise. The trawl-
lines, with the short baited cords attached to them at intervals, are set near the
breeding-places of those birds.

Fic. 4.
All +
Fias. 3-8.—Double-pointed bone implements. La Madelaine.

Similar bone rods, as stated, have occurred in French caves inhabited during
the reindeer-period. Figs. 3 to 8} represent a number of such pointed implements

*The buoys are either worked blocks of wood or inflated bladders of seals, walruses, etc., and the anchors
ordinary stones of suitable size. The stone is attached to the buoy by a raw-hide line.
+ Reliquie Aquitanice; Figs. 10-15 on B Plate VI.

14 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

of different sizes, all found at the station of La Madelaine, which, however, is
not the only one in Southern France that has furnished such objects. Two of
those here figured show notchings, and there is at least some probability that
they served in the manner before described.

M. Lartet, however, gives it as Mr. Christy’s opinion “that they may have
formed part of fish-hooks, having been tied to other bones or sticks obliquely ;
and, indeed, in the specimen Fig. 12 (here Fig. 5) there are notches made at
intervals along the stem, and one of its ends is flattened on one side, so as to
allow of its being laid against another piece and tied securely on.’”** In order to
illustrate this method, M. Lartet figures} what he calls a “ fishing-implement
from Nootka Sound,” yet without indicating for what special purpose and in
what manner it was used. ‘Such thin tapering pieces of wood or bone are tied
securely, at a certain angle, on the thicker part, and within the curve of a stick
bent like a shepherd's crook. Sometimes the spikes are sharp at both ends, but
more often they are blunt at the outer end.”’{

The implement figured by him is a halibut-hook, identical in shape with one
represented by Mr. Swan in his work on the Makah Indians of Cape Flattery.
I give his illustration as Fig. 9, which represents the object much reduced,
halibut-hooks being generally from five to ten inches long.§

“The halibut-hook,” he says, ‘is a peculiarly-shaped instrument, and is
made of splints from hemlock-knots bent in a form somewhat resembling an
ox-bow. These knots remain perfectly sound long after the body of the tree has
decayed, and are exceedingly tough. They are selected in preference to those of
spruce, because there is no pitch in them to offend the fish, which will not bite
at a hook that smells of resin. The knots are first split into small (slender ?)
pieces, which, after being shaped with a knife, are inserted into a hollow piece of
the stem of the kelp and roasted or steamed in the hot ashes until they are
pliable ; they are then bent into the required form, and tied until they are cold,
when they retain the shape given them. A barb made of a piece of bone is
firmly lashed on to the lower side of the hook with slips of spruce cut thin like
a ribbon, or with strips of bark of the wild cherry. The upper arm of the hook
is slightly curved outward, and wound round with bark, to keep it from splitting.
A thread made of whale-sinews is usually fastened to the hook for the purpose
of tying on the bait, and another of the same material, loosely twisted, serves to
fasten the hook to the kelp line. As the halibut’s mouth is vertical, instead of
horizontal like that of most other fish, it readily takes the hook, the upper

* Reliquize Aquitanice ; II, p. 58.—In a note on the same page it is said that ‘these bone spikes, lashed on
obliquely by their middle to the beveled end of a shaft, may also have served for both point and barb of a dart,
such as the Australians make out of a long stick and a kangaroo’s fibula sharpened at both ends.”

+ Ibid.; II, p. 51.

{ Ibid. ; II, p. 55.

§Schooleraft figures on Plate 85 of Vol. III of his large work a similar hook from Oregon, but gives no

information concerning its use.

DOUBLE-POINTED BONE IMPLEMENTS. 15

portion of which passes outside and over the corner of the mouth, and acts as
a sort of spring to fasten the barb into the fish’s jaw. The Indians prefer this
kind of hook for halibut fishing, although they can readily procure metal ones
from the white traders. — — —

“The lines used in the halibut-fishing are usually made of the stems of the
gigantic kelp. A line attached to one of the arms of the halibut-hook holds
it in a vertical position, as shown in Fig. 9. The bait used is the cuttlefish or

Fia. 9.—Halibut-hook. Makah Indians, Cape Flattery.

squid (Octopus tuberculatus), which is plentiful and is taken by the natives by
means of barbed sticks, which they thrust under the rocks at low water, to
draw the animal out and kill it by transfixing it with the stick. A portion
of the squid is firmly attached to the hook, which is sunk by means of a stone
to the bottom, the sinker keeping the hook nearly in a stationary position. ‘To
the upper portion of the line it is usual to attach bladders, which serve as
buoys, and several are set at one time. When the fish is hooked, it pulls the
bladder, but cannot draw it under water. The Indian, seeing the signal, paddles
out; hauls up the line; knocks the fish on the head with a club; readjusts his
bait ; casts it overboard; and proceeds to the next bladder he sees giving token
of a fish. When a number of Indians are together in a large canoe, and the
fish bite readily, it is usual to fish from the canoe without using the buoy.’*

QA UH TESS

Fra. 10.—Codfish-hook. Makah Indians, Cape Flattery.

Fig. 10, also one of Mr. Swan’s illustrations, shows the form of a Makah
codfish-hook, which, though much simpler than the halibut-hook, is somewhat

*Swan: The Indians of Cape Flattery; pp. 41 and 23.

16 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

similarly constructed. Such a hook consists of a straight piece of wood, from
four to six inches.long, to which a bone barb is lashed on, as shown in the figure.*

I shall have more to say concerning hooks of similar make, when treating of
prehistoric fishing in North America.

The questions whether the tapering bone rods from the French caves were
employed either in their simple form as primitive fishing-implements, or as barbs
in the construction of real hooks, or for both purposes, unfortunately cannot be
positively answered at the present time, and it would not be safe to go beyond
the suggestion that such may have been their use or uses. Possibly they were
designed for other applications. Hereafter it will be seen that such pointed
bones served as fishing-implements in the neolithic period.

M. Gabriel de Mortillet seems to be mistaken in attributing the character of
fish-hooks to some of the bone objects found in the caves of Southern France.
He says :—

“Hooks belonging to the reindeer-epoch have also been found in the caves
and retreats of Dordogne, so well explored by Messrs. Lartet and Christy.
Along with those of the simple form which we have just described,+ others were
met with of a much more perfect shape. These are likewise small fragments of
bone or reindeer’s horn, with deep and wide notches on one side, forming a more
or less developed series of projecting and sharp teeth, or barbs. Two of them
are depicted in B Plate VI of the ‘ Reliquize Aquitanice.’ '{

Among the figures on the plate referred to by M. de Mortillet there is not
one that bears the slightest resemblance to a fish-hook, and M. Lartet, in
describing the represented objects, designates none of them by that name.

While there is some doubt whether the cave-men of Southern France
practised fishing with a line, it may be taken for granted that they procured fish
by spearing, implements suited for that purpose having been discovered in great
number in the débris of the caves. These implements, harpoon-like in character
and well shaped, are generally cut from reindeer-horn, and the endurance
displayed in their manufacture is really astonishing, in consideration of the
stubbornness of the material, which had to be reduced to the proper shape by
means of sawing, cutting, and scraping with simple tools of flint.

Figs. 11 to 15 represent characteristic forms of these harpoon-shaped dart-
heads of reindeer-horn, which, whether barbed only on one side or on both,
exhibit near the tapering lower end little eminences or knobs, the purpose of
which will be considered hereafter. The barbs in the figured specimens are

*Swan: The Indians of Cape Flattery; p. 41.
+ The pointed pieces of bone.

{ De Mortillet: L’Origine de la Navigation et de la Péche (Paris, 1867, p. 25); quoted in Figuier’s ‘‘ Primi-
tive Man; ’’ New York, 1870; p. 90.—I never saw M. de Mortillet’s publication.

HARPOON-HEADS. ea

provided with incisions or grooves, supposed by some to have served for the
reception of poison, an opinion which I hardly ean share, in consideration of the
fact that the arrow-shafts of many Indian tribes, such as the Sioux, Cheyennes,

Fic, 11—La Madelaine. Fic. 12.—Bruniquel. Fic. 13.—La Madelaine. Fig, 14.—La Madelaine, Fie, 15.—La Madelaine.
AT

Fies. 11-15.—Harpoon-heads of reindeer-horn.

Tonkaways, Navajos, Pai-Utes, and gthers, exhibit longitudinal grooves, intended
to facilitate the flow of the wounded animal’s blood.* There are three of these
grooves, cut in at equal distances, and usually forming irregular wave lines, as
shown in Fig. 16 which represents an iron-headed Sioux arrow. Of course, only
one of the grooves is visible in the figure.

rie
6

Fic. 16.—Ivon-headed Sioux arrow.

* They remind one of the blood-grooves (Blutrinnen) on Toledo and other sword-blades.

18 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

With a similar view the troglodytes may have cut grooves in the barbs of
their weapons, if, indeed, these incisions were not merely designed for ornamen-
tation.

In describing the harpoon-like objects of reindeer-horn figured on page 17,
I follow more or less M. Lartet’s remarks.

Fig. 11.—This specimen exhibits only two barbs on one side. The top has
been carefully tapered to a point, and the grooves of the barbs are deeply cut,
especially that in the second one. The shank is slightly curved, with an evident
swelling at the middle, and the knobs near the lower extremity are quite
prominent. From La Madelaine.*

Fig. 12.—This fine specimen was found by M. Brun, conservator of the
Museum of Montauban, under the rock-shelter of Bruniquel. Its upper point
is short, and it has nine grooved barbs on one side. There is only one knob near
the lower end.+

Fig. 13.—This is a perfect specimen, having its original tapering end and
suddenly sharp point, and three pairs of alternating, single-grooved barbs.
From La Madelaine.{

Fig. 14.—This specimen measures nearly nine inches in length, and is one
of the largest found by Messrs. Lartet and Christy. Its point is elongate and
somewhat sharp, and the stem regularly rounded. The barbs, cut out symmet-
rically and marked with single grooves, are three on one side (left) and five on
the other (right) ; the first on the right side is placed forward, and has none to
correspond with it on the other side. The others are nearly opposite or alternate.
The knobs at the lower end are very prominent. From La Madelaine.§

Fig. 15.—A distinct type,|| with the point forming a triangle by the meeting
of two barbs, which, like the others, are nearly flat, and provided with two
parallel grooves on both faces. The barbs project opposite each other. The
stem is marked by two longitudinal lines, between which is a somewhat raised
fillet dying out at the point. The knobs at the lower end are tolerably prominent.
From La Madelaine.4

Fig. 17 represents a fragmentary harpoon-shaped object of reindeer-horn
from La Madelaine, the lower part of which is not tapering, but terminates in
“‘a butt convex on one face and nearly flat on the other,” and exhibits, moreover,
above the lowest pair of barbs—all that remains of them—a longitudinal, deeply-

* Reliquie Aquitanice; reduction of Fig. 2 on B Plate VI.
yIbid. ; reduction of Fig. 9 on p. 50, IT.

{Ibid.; reduction of Fig. 4 on B Plate XIV.

§ Ibid. ; reduction of Fig. 4 on B Plate I.

|| ‘‘ Unless,”’ as M. Lartet says, ‘‘it was originally longer, and has been recut and sharpened after having been
broken.”

{ Reliquix Aquitanice; reduction of Fig. 7 on B Plate I.

HARPOON-HEADS. 19

cut perforation. It is the only object of this special form figured in “ Reliquize
Aquitanice.”* I place alongside of it Fig. 18, representing a specimen found

ay 2
z %

Fic. 17.—La Madelaine. Fic. 18.—Laugerie Basse.

Fics. 17 and 18.—Harpoon-heads of reindeer-horn.

by M. Elie Massenat at Laugerie Basse.+ Its lower extremity tapers to a point,
and there is a perforation at some distance from it. The design is not sufficiently
characteristic to show whether the object has a flattish or rounded form.

There can be no doubt that many of the points of reindeer-horn found in
the French caves were the armatures of hunting-spears, if not of arrows, which
fact, if it needed verification, is proved by the discovery, at the station of Les
Eyzies, of a bone in which a broken barbed dart-head still remains fixed. It
would be impossible to decide at this time which of the armatures provided with
barbs served as the heads of hunting-spears or of harpoons. Possibly the cave-
men were not very choice in the selection, and used them as the occasion required,
though it is quite probable that, in spearing fish, they preferred shafts purposely
provided with heads having unilateral barbs, which, of course, penetrated with
greater ease. Dr. Broca is very strict in his definition of the harpoons used by

* Fig. 57, I, p. 160.
+ Matériaux pour l’Histoire Primitive et Naturelle de Homme; Vol. V, 1869, Plate 20.

{ Figured in Figuier’s ‘‘ Primitive Man,” p. 100.

20 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

the cave-men. “The harpoon,” he says, “ was a small dart of reindeer-horn, very
like the large barbed arrows, except that the barbs were only on one side; a
slight protuberance at the base allowed a cord to be attached, which was held in
the hand of the fisherman. It has been frequently, and is still, confounded with
the arrow. It is clear that an arrow barbed only on one side would be very
defective in flight, as it describes a long curve; its course is necessarily affected
by the resistance of the air which sustains it; but in the short flight of the
harpoon this inconvenience is much less, and besides, the direction of the harpoon
is downward, and it does not need to be sustained by the air. The instrument
barbed only on one side is then not an arrow, and must be a harpoon. The use
of its barbs was to catch and retain the fish after it was struck; but why were
they all upon one side? To diminish the width of the dart so that it might
penetrate more readily? I cannot say.

“One of my colleagues, M. Lecoq de Boisbaudran, in a communication before
the anthropological section, makes some very interesting remarks upon the mode
of action of the unilateral barbs of the harpoon. While passing through the
air, these barbs do not cause the harpoon to deviate perceptibly, but as soon as
it enters the water, the unequal resistance it encounters must necessarily change
its direction. It would seem, then, that the fisherman who aimed straight for
the fish would miss it. Now, it is well known that a straight stick appears to be
broken when plunged obliquely in water; in like manner, in consequence of the
refraction of the luminous rays, the image of the fish is displaced, and if direct
aim were taken at this image, it would also be missed. Here are, then, two
causes of error. Now, it is evident that if they can be brought to act in opposite
directions, they will counteract each other, and M. Lecoq shows that when the
barbed side is turned downward, the harpoon will reach its destination. This
arrangement of the harpoon was then intended to rectify its course, which
indicates great sagacity of observation in our troglodytes.

“The inhabitants of Zerre-de-Few still use a harpoon barbed on one side
only.”’*

At this day, however, the Eskimos and Indians of the Northwest Coast of
America use harpoons with heads barbed either on one side or on both. As an
example I represent in Fig. 19 a seal-harpoon, about five feet long, used by the
Eskimos of Bristol Bay, in Alaska. Fig. 20 shows its upper part enlarged.
The head, made of walrus-ivory, barbed on both sides, and provided with an
eye, fits with its tapering lower end into a corresponding cavity in a kind of
socket, made of bone, into which the wooden shaft is inserted. An inflated

* Broca: The Troglodytes; p. 329.—A Fuegian bone harpoon-head, eight inches and five-eighths long,
having a single barb on each side, is figured in “ Reliquie Aquitanice,”’ II, p. 179. It was obtained, with
others, during the voyage of the ‘‘Beagle.”” Reference will be made hereafter to the fine series of bone harpoon-
heads from Tierra del Fuego in the United States National Museum.

HARPOONS. Pall

stomach of a seal, attached to its lower part, serves as a float or buoy. A long
line of braided sinew, fastened at some distance from the end of the shaft,
connects the latter with the ivory head, as shown in the figure. The line loosely

Fia. 19.—Eskimos, Bristol Bay, Alaska. (11355). Fic. 2L.—Eskimos, Yukon River, Alaska. (8844).

Figs. 19-21.—Harpoons.

coiled around the shaft and closely below the socket has nothing to do with the
arrangement just described, but serves to strengthen the connection of the shaft

bho

2 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

with the socket. In launching the harpoon at a seal, which is done by means of
the throwing-board, the head becomes detached, remaining in the body of the
animal, which dives under, pulling down the embarrassing float, but reappears
after a while on the surface, when the pursuing hunters in their skin-boats
(bidarkas) finally kill it with clubs. The animal is claimed by the individual
who first struck it; but if two have fastened simultaneously their spears in its
body, the one who wounded it nearest the head becomes the owner.

Fig. 21 represents a lighter kind of seal-harpoon, derived from Eskimos at
the mouth of Yukon River, Alaska. It somewhat resembles the one just
described, but lacks the buoy, and is feathered at the lower end. The hunter
likewise employs the throwing-board in connection with this harpoon, which
measures about five feet. The ivory head has five barbs, two on one side and
three on the other. The line, passing through the eye of the head, and properly
attached to it, is fastened below the socket and at some distance from the feather-
ing. When the head is buried in the seal’s body and has become detached from
the shaft, the latter floats in a direction crossing that in which the animal swims
or dives, and thus impedes its motions.

Arrows, in every respect similar to this kind of spear, but, of course smaller
(about two feet eight inches long), and having a notch at the lower end of the
shaft, are used for the water-hunt by Eskimos of the Northwest Coast, for
instance by those of Bristol Bay. When the arrow has reached its victim, and
the point has come off the shaft, the latter floats like that of the seal-spear just
described. These arrows are shot from short bows, stiffened on the back with
whalebone and sinew, and not easily bent.

I have given a somewhat detailed account of these harpoons and arrows
with detachable heads, because it has been suggested the harpoon-like heads
from the French caves, which nearly all show a tapering termination, served, in
part at least, as detachable armatures. The projections or knobs at their lower
ends, it is supposed, facilitated the fastening of a line. If such really was the
case, the dart must have been inserted into a conical cavity at the upper extrem-
ity of the shaft, for no horn or bone sockets made for receiving the tapering ends
of the dart-heads have been found in the French caves. It would be hazardous
to assert that the cave-men of Dordogne made use of an apparatus so complicated
as an Eskimo seal-spear, their attacks being chiefly directed against large fish,
such as salmon and the like. No one can say whether their fish-spears had
detachable or fixed points. In the latter case the knobs with which the dart-
heads are provided may simply have served to hold ligatures by which the head,
after being inserted into the hollowed end of the shaft, was more firmly lashed
to it. Yet armatures like those represented by Figs. 17 and 18 certainly have
the appearance of detachable heads.

It will be seen hereafter that certain North American Indians, in capturing

HARPOON-HEADS. 23

salmon and sturgeon, used, and still use, a long spear with a detachable sharp
bone point, connected by a string with the shaft. The point, however, is not
inserted into the shaft, but the shaft is made to fit into a cavity at the upper
extremity of the point.

1
1

Fic. 22. Fic, 23.
Fires. 22 and 23.—Harpoon or arrow-heads of reindeer-horn. La Madelaine.

Figs. 22 and 23 represent small harpoon-like objects of reindeer-horn,
figured in “ Reliquize Aquitanicee,’* and both found at La Madelaine. The first
of them is thus described :—‘‘A small specimen cut in the shape of a barbed
harpoon, with a long point, which has been broken. There are four barbs on
one side only, distinctly separate, sharp, and very oblique, but without the usual
grooves. The lower part tapers to a point without any indication of knobs.
This diminutive weapon-head may have served as an arrow-head.” The
description of the second, represented in Fig. 23, is as follows :—‘‘Another
minute harpoon-like head, of similar dimensions to the last, but showing only
two barbs cut distinctly, whilst above them two others are indicated by shallow,
oblique, unfinished notches. This specimen has preserved its sharp point. Near
the pointed butt there is a kind of notch, which may have been of use in
fastening this little weapon on a shaft.” +

If not arrow-points, these little darts may have served as armatures of
diminutive fishing-spears in the hands of juvenile cave-dwellers. They hardly
resemble the barbed prongs, two or three or more of which form the heads of
what are now called fish-gigs ; and, indeed, in looking carefully over the plates
of “Reliquize Aquitanicx,” I have not noticed the figure of a single specimen of
a form to be thus employed.

* Figs. 8 and 9 on B Plate VI. + Reliquie Aquitanicw; II, p. 57, ete.

24 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

The relics found in the reindeer-hunters’ retreat called the “ Kesslerloch,”
near Thayngen, in the Canton of Zurich, Switzerland,* have been described by
the discoverer of the cave, Mr. Konrad Merk, in the ‘“ Mittheilungen”
(communications) of the Antiquarian Society of Ziirich. The material out of
which the cave-dwellers manufactured their implements, he states, was almost
exclusively furnished by the antlers of the reindeer. There were found at this
station only eight harpoon-like objects, differing in the execution as well as in

All }.

Fics. 24-28.—Harpoon-heads of reindeer-horn (?). Kesslerloch. -

* Seep. 9.

HARPOON-HEADS. 25

their state of preservation. Three have unilateral barbs, while five are barbed
on both sides.* The author designates these darts in the list of illustrations as
Knochenharpunen, or bone harpoons; but in consideration of his remark that
reindeer-horn was nearly always used as the material for implements, it may be
inferred that the darts in question also consist of that substance.

He represents five of them, all of which are here reproduced as Figs. 24, 25,
26, 27, and 28.; The peculiarities of these dart-heads are sufficiently shown by
the illustrations, and having figured and described characteristic objects of the
same class from French caves, I may leave it to the reader to make his own
comparisons, in order to discover analogies and differences. Mr. Merk gives it
as his opinion that the dart-heads found by him served as the armatures of spears
which were only thrown at birds, a view which I feel disinclined to accept.
Some of them may have served in the fish-hunt.

Fie. 30.

Fries. 29 and 30.—Harpoon-heads of reindeer-horn (?). Kent’s Cavern.

In conclusion, I present in Figs. 29 and 30 delineations of two harpoon-
heads from Kent’s Cavern, near Torquay, figured by Mr. John Evans in his
well-known work on the ancient stone implements, ete., of Great Britain.

“The harpoon-heads,” he observes, “are of two kinds, some being barbed
on both sides, others on one only. Of the former kind but one example has
been found, which is shown in Fig. 403 (here Fig. 29). It lay in the second foot
in depth in the red cave-earth in the vestibule. Above this was the black band,
three inches thick, containing flint flakes and remains of extinct mammals; and
above this again, the stalagmite floor, eighteen inches in thickness. It is, as

* Merk: Der Hohlenfund im Kesslerloch bei Thayngen (Kanton Schaffhausen); Mittheilungen der
Antiquarischen Gesellschaft in Ztrich, Vol. XIX, No. 1; Zurich, 1875; p. 28, ete.

;In Mr. Merk’s publication, respectively, Fig. 35 on Plate 1V; Fig. 49 on Plate V; Fig. 48 on Plate V;
Fig. 94 on Plate VI; and Fig. 25 on Plate IV.

{ Figs. 403 and 404 on pp. 459 and 460,

26 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

usual, imperfect, but the two and one-fourth inches which remain show the tapering
point and four barbs on either side, which are opposite to each other, and not
alternate. It is precisely of the same character as some of the harpoon-heads
from the cave of La Madelaine, in the Dordogne, which are usually formed of
reindeer-horn. The material in this instance is, I believe, the same. The
striated marks of the tool by which it was scraped into form are still distinctly
visible in places. Such harpoon-heads have been regarded as characteristic of
the latest division in the sequence of this class of caverns, and have been found
in numerous localities on the Continent.

“Of the other kind, which have the barbs along one side only of the blade,
two examples have been found. One of these, though in two pieces, is otherwise
nearly perfect, and is shown in Fig. 404 (here Fig. 30). It has also its analogues
among the harpoon-heads found in the cave of La Madelaine and elsewhere,
especially at Bruniquel. Its stem shows the projection for retaining the loop or
cord by which it was connected with the shaft, though it was probably still
susceptible of being detached from immediate contact with it. In this respect,
as indeed in general character, these early weapons seem closely to resemble
those of the Eskimos of the present day. — — —

‘The other instrument of this kind, shown in Fig. 405 (not reproduced) is
the terminal portion of a similar point, but with the barbs all broken off at the
base. It is about three and three-fourths inches long, and was found in the
black band.”*

It is not known whether the cave-men of the reindeer-period in France and
other parts of Europe understood fishing with nets, no prepared net-sinkers
having been discovered among the débris left by them. The absence of the
latter, however, is no positive proof of the non-existence of nets in palzeolithic
times, for pebbles without any artificial modification could have served as sinkers.
It would be equally fruitless to make it a subject of inquiry whether they had
boats. Referring to the cave-men of the Vézere Valley, Dr. Broca observes :—

“These antique fishermen evidently did not use nets, for with nets all kinds
of fish are taken. Their sole instrument was the harpoon, with which they could
only catch the large fish, and among these they chose the one whose flesh they
preferred.+ Had they boats for fishing? There is no evidence of it; besides,
the river was then sufficiently narrow to allow the use of the harpoon from its
banks.” {

* Evans: The Ancient Stone Implements, Weapons, and Ornaments of Great Britain; London, 1872;
872 ;

p- 459, ete.

{ The salmon. It has been seen, however, that the troglodytes also caught smaller species of fish. Dr.
Sauvage is very positive on that point. See p. 11.

+ Broca: The Troglodytes; p. 828.

DESIGNS OF FISHES, ETC. 27

Delineations of Fishes and Aquatic Mammals.—Reference was made to the
peculiar artistic penchant of the men of the reindeer-period, which revealed itself
in the practice of engraving on horn and other substances the outlines of animals
which they hunted or obtained by other means, and which, it may be assumed,
were regarded with special interest on account of the advantages derived from
them. The fact that a number of these sketches represent fishes seems to indicate
their partiality for the spoils of the water, which, as we have seen, contributed
largely to their supplies of food.

Fic. 31.—Representations of fishes and a horse on a baton of reindeer-horn. La Madelaine.

Fig. 31 represents a “baton” of reindeer-horn, one foot in length, upon
which two fishes and a horse are traced, the former being very badly executed,
insomuch that it would be impossible to indulge in any speculation as to the
genus to which they belong. On the side opposite to that shown by Fig. 31
other fish-like figures, four in number, are drawn. This specimen was found at

La Madelaine.*

Fig. 32.—Drawing of a fish on a piece of reindeer-horn. La Madelaine.

Much better is the design of a fish on a rod of reindeer-horn, here given as
Fig. 32. It is thus described :—“A cylindrical piece of reindeer-horn, on which
are carved two outlines of fishes, one on each side. In the figure here given,
the form of the head, the shape of the gills, an obscure indication of the back-fin,
and the proportions and general appearance permit us to refer this fish to one of
the freshwater kind, probably of the cyprinoid (carp) family. The fragment is
broken at both ends; and we can scarcely form an opinion as to its original use,
and whether, indeed, it was an ornament or not.’’*+ The piece was obtained at
La Madelaine.

Reliquie Aquitanice; Fig. 1, B Plates III and IV.—Fig. 31 is a reduced copy.
+ Ibid. ; II, p. 13; representation of the engraved fish Fig. 1 on B Plate I11.—The tracing on the horn is less”

distinct than in Fig. 32. ”

28 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

About eight years ago, Messrs. Louis Lartet* and Chaplain Dupare
published in “ Matériaux pour |’Histoire Primitive et Naturelle de Homme”
an account of their exploration of the Duruthy Grotto, near Sorde, a place
situated not very far from Peyrehorade, Department of Landes (Southwestern
France). They discovered in the lowest deposit of the grotto—evidently a place

Fic. 33.—Figure of a pike engraved on a drilled bear’s tooth. Duruthy Grotto.

resorted to at different times—about fifty perforated and engraved canine teeth
of the bear and lion, doubtless trophies of the chase, which lay near a crushed
human skull and bones, perhaps the remains of a savage hunter, whose person
they once may have adorned. On one of these teeth, that of a bear, is traced
the outline of a fish, which has been pronounced a pike by persons versed in
ichthyology. Fig. 33, reproduced from “ Matériaux,’+ represents the incised
bear’s tooth.

There is in the collection of the Marquis de Vibraye a reindeer-jaw from

AGM LMS
Li ii ig

Fria. 34.—Outline of a fish (Squalius?) on a veindeer-jaw. Laugerie Basse.

Laugerie Basse, upon which is engraved the outline of. a fish, supposed to be
intended for a Squalius. Fig. 34 is a copy of the sketch.t

M. Elie Massenat found at Laugerie Basse several pieces of reindeer-horn
bearing fish-designs, which are figured on Plates I and II in Vol. XII (1877) of
“Matériaux.” The tracings represented on the first plate are rather rude, not
permitting the recognition of a species; but that on the second plate is believed
to be intended for a cyprinoid fish. I refrain from copying the figures, the
plates being marked Reproduction interdite.

* Son of M. Edouard Lartet.
+ Vol. IX, 1874, p. 142, Fig. 37.
{ Reliquiw Aquitanice; I, p. 225.

DESIGNS OF FISHES, ETC. 29

“=

M. Edouard Dupont has published the description and figure of a “ baton”
with a rough fish-design upon it, which was found in the cave of Goyet, in
Belgium. The illustration is here reproduced as Fig. 35. “It is ornamented

Fie, 35.—Tracing of a fish on a baton of reindeer-horn. Cave of Goyet.

on its borders and on its two faces with incised lines; I have not yet been able
to discover what the ancient engraver intended to represent on one of the faces,
because an important part of the design was traced on the lost portion of the
object; there are seen lines which cross each other and some hatchings.

“The other face shows the figure of a fish, the posterior part of which is
wanting on account of the fracture. The dots engraved on the back of the fish
would seem to indicate the characteristic spots on the back of a trout.’*

Fic.'36.—Rude drawing of a fishing-scene on the scapula of an ox. Laugerie Basse.

Fig. 36 is a reproduction of an extremely rude drawing of a fishing-scene,
on the scapula of an ox, also discovered by M. Massenat at Laugerie Basse.
The sketch is thus described by him :—

“This drawing represents a rudely-executed human form with an immense

*Dupont: Les ‘* Batons de Commandement”’ de la Caverne de Goyet; Matériaux; Vol. V, 1869; p. 3185
figure on Plate 16.—Professor W. Boyd Dawkins thinks this object might have been an arrow-straightener (Cave
Hunting, London, 1874, p. 349).

30 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

arm, at least three times as long as the rest of the body. This arm, it appears,
tries to seize a fin of an enormous fish, which, from the shape of the tail, easily
might be taken for a cetacéan. Was the draughtsman inspired by the recollection
of some great maritime fishing-exploit? And why not? Have we not the
certainty that the aborigines made excursions to the sea-shore? The different
kinds of shells which we find in tolerable number, sometimes pierced and cut by
man, among the fragments of flint and reindeer-horn are an irrefutable proof of
the fact.’”*

Dr. Broca, however, gives the following explanation of the sketch :—

“Tt represents a man in the act of harpooning an aquatic animal. The
latter, although it has the form of a fish, is so much larger than the man that it
has been supposed to be one of the cetacea, probably a whale, and that the artist,
in consequence, must have found his way to the Gulf of Gascogne. I am not
disposed to admit this interpretation. It is hardly possible that the men of that
time were sufficiently expert navigators to venture upon the ocean to harpoon
the whale. It is said the tail and back suggest the form of a cetaceous animal ;
but may it not rather be a porpoise than a whale? Porpoises sometimes sport
in the Gironde, and I saw once, in my childhood, one of these animals carried
by a flood even into the Dordogne, where it was stranded between Libourne and
Castillon. It was killed by fishermen with boat-hooks, and exhibited from
village to village. If, as is probable, the tide rose higher in those days than
now, and particularly if the Dordogne was wider and deeper, it is conceivable
that a porpoise might ascend the river high enough to come within reach of the
harpoons of our troglodytes, and so unusual an event would naturally inspire the
enthusiasm of an artist—in this case very unskillful.

“But Iam tempted to believe that this pretended cetacean is only a badly-
drawn fish. The relative size of the man proves nothing, for the artist, through-
out the whole sketch, has manifested entire contempt for proportion. This too
diminutive man has a gigantic arm, and the harpoon he throws is proportioned
to the size of the fish. We are reminded of certain jocose drawings of the
present day, in which puny bodies are supplied with enormous heads. The
great interest of this particular work of art consists in the unanswerable proof
it gives that the troglodytes used the harpoon in fishing.” +

The original of Fig. 37, found at La Madelaine, and evidently a part of a
baton, is thus described in the “ Reliquize Aquitanicze”’ :—

“The objects here represented are engraved on the face of a cylindrical rod,
which our artist has rendered diagrammatically in two separate figures, so as to

reproduce the whole in halves.

* Massenat: Objects Gravés et Sculptés de Laugerie Basse (Dordogne); Matériaux; Vol. V, 1869; p. 354.
Sketch taken from Plate 22 of the same volume.
+ Broca: The Troglodytes; p. 337.

DESIGNS OF FISHES, ETC. 31

‘“On one of these halves (represented as a flat surface) we see two heads,
one after the other, evidently referable to a bovine genus. We may add that
characters for a determination of the species are not altogether wanting. The

Waa \uitsh
WA P44.

Fic. 37.—Outlines of two heads of the aurochs, a human figure, an eel (?), two horse-heads, and three
rows of marks on a piece of reindeer-horn. La Madelaine.

points of attachment and the direction of the horns suffice, for themselves, to
decide for the aurochs ; whilst, moreover, a more significant indication could not
be offered than the convexity of the forehead and the presence of hair-tufts,
both on the face and under the throat.

‘On the opposite side of the other half-eylinder (reproduced as a plane) we
see, in a medley of figures, sometimes upside down, first, a human form, with
the limbs not finished very incorrectly, although the face is without any expres-

sion—a negligence probably intentional on the part of the ancient artist, who

has perfectly characterized, close by it, a horse’s head and part of its chest, with
their details pretty well rendered. More to the right we perceive a second horse’s
head, not so well cut. To the left of and behind the human form, amongst rows
of dashes, or figures, of which we cannot comprehend either the intention or
value, there is an outline (reversed with respect to the other figures) of a serpent,
or rather of an cel with indications of the tail-fin;* and its head, with mouth
open, approaches the leg of the human figure. In this bizarre group of figures,
or in the figures themselves, we avow we cannot see any intention or premeditated
arrangement; and if others, more knowing, think that they here recognize the
expression of an allegory, or of any symbolism, we very willingly leave to them
the merit as well as the responsibility.’+

* The italics are my own.

+ Reliquie Aquitanice; II, p. 15; figure on B Plate II, 8a and 8b.

32 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

Such is M. Edouard Lartet’s comment on the engraved piece. Though, of
course, it cannot be decided whether the artist intended to represent an eel,
lamprey, or serpent, it was not deemed superfluous to reproduce here the group,
and to transcribe the observations relating to it.

Fic. 38.—Figure of a seal traced on a drilled bear’s tooth. Duruthy Grotto.

The cave-dwellers of the reindeer-period evidently had seen seals, either on
the sea-coasts or in the rivers which these animals may have ascended some
distance at the time of cave-inhabitation here considered. Mention is made of
a representation of a seal found by M. Pictte in the cave of Gourdan, Department
of Haute-Garonne. I have not seen a figure of this specimen, but I am able to
present in Fig. 38 a delineation of a drilled bear’s tooth, upon which the outline
of a seal is so distinctly traced, that the artist’s intention to draw the likeness of
a phocine animal cannot be doubted. The engraved tooth is one of the fifty,
which, as stated on a preceding page, were discovered by Messrs. Lartet and
Dupare in the lowest deposit of the Duruthy Grotto.*

2—NEOLITHIC AGE.

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS.

In the later or neolithic period a marked change in the condition of prehis-
toric men in Europe is observable. A milder temperature was now prevailing,
the former climate having gradually yielded its rigor, and become more like that
of our time. The mammoth, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, great bear, and hyena

* Matériaux; Vol. IX, 1874; p. 148, Fig. 38.

NEOLITHIC AGE. 33

had worked out their mission in Europe, while the musk-ox, reindeer, chamois,
ibex, and other quadrupeds adapted to a low temperature, had either migrated
northward, or chosen the cold heights of mountains as their abodes. On the
other hand, several species of animals, perhaps derived from distant countries,
appear as the domesticated associates of man, who was no longer a mere savage
hunter, but had become, in some districts at least, a tiller of the soil, and, conse-
quently, a consumer of vegetable food, though still assiduously applying himself
to the chase and to fishing. During the palzeolithic ages, it appears, man made
his stone tools and weapons almost exclusively of flint, reducing them to the
intended shape by flaking or chipping alone, not having learned yet to improve
their form and efficiency by the process of grinding. It was quite different in
the times now under consideration. The stone implements of the neolithic period
exhibit a greater variety of well-defined forms, and are no longer generally made
of flint, but also of other kinds of stone, such as diorite, serpentine, basalt,
quartzite, and similar suitable materials. Many of the neolithic axes, chisels,
ete., are brought into their final shapes by grinding and polishing. Yet the
practice of chipping flint into arrow and spear-heads, knives, scrapers, and other
utensils was carried on with great industry, the articles produced in this way being
not only very numerous, but also, generally speaking, of superior workmanship,
insomuch that flint-chipping may be said to have assumed in this period almost
the character of an art. Some of the Danish handled daggers are marvels of
skill. The manufacture of clay vessels was general during this epoch; and,
though always hand-made, they frequently exhibit elegant forms. The earlier
megalithic monuments of Europe (dolmens, chambered tumuli, etc.), pertain to
the same era.

Were the men of neolithic times the descendants of the contemporaries of
the mammoth and the great bear, or immigrants from abroad, who brought with
them new arts and the animals they had tamed in their old homes? There
certainly exists a gap between palzeolithic and neolithic implements, the gradual
transition from one class to the other not being represeuted with sufficient
distinctness by intermediate forms. It is highly probable, to say the least, that the
neolithic period was inaugurated in Europe by the spreading cf a new population,
in which some are inclined to recognize the first wave of Aryan immigration.

ARTIFICIAL SHELL-DEPOSITS.

Character.—On the indented coasts of the Danish islands of Seeland, Ftinen,
Moen and Samsie, and along the fjords of the Peninsula of Jutland there occur,
mostly in the neighborhood of the sea, considerable accumulations of shells,
which were formerly supposed to have been deposited by the sea at a time when

34 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

the level of the land was lower than at present. It was noticed, however, that
the shell-heaps showed no trace of the stratification which always characterizes
marine deposits, and that they, instead of inclosing shells of mollusks of every
age, contained merely those of full-grown specimens, which, moreover, belonged
to a limited number of species not living together under natural conditions.
Upon further examination there were found among the shells the broken bones
of different species of wild quadrupeds and birds, and the remains of fishes ; also
implements of flint, horn, and bone, fragments of a rude kind of pottery, char-
coal, and ashes, but no objects of metal whatever. The artificial origin of these
accumulations being now established, they were recognized as the amassed
remains of the repasts of a-population that dwelled in early ages on the shores of
the Baltic, pursuing the chase, but chiefly the capture of fish and shell-fish.
The Danes denominate shell-heaps of this description Ajokkenmoddinger,* a word
meaning “ kitchen-refuse ;” but the term ‘“‘ kitchen-middens ” is often employed
in English, midden being a name still used in the North of England to designate
a refuse-heap. A large number of kitchen-middens have been examined
conjointly by Messrs. Forchhammer, Steenstrup, and Worsaae, distinguished,
respectively, for their proficiency in the departments of geology, natural history,
and archzeology; and the results of their investigations, contained in several
reports addressed to the Academy of Sciences at Copenhagen, have added ina
great measure to our knowledge of prehistoric man in the North of Europe.
Artificial shell-deposits, however, have also been discovered in other parts
of Europe, as for instance, in Sweden, Norway, England, Scotland, and on the
coasts of France, both north and south. Yet nowhere in Europe are they so
numerous and well characterized as in the country to which my account refers.+
One of the largest kitchen-middens is that of Meilgaard, in the Northeast
of Jutland. It is more than a hundred metres long, and in places three metres
deep. Very extensive accumulations sometimes present an undulating surface,
the refuse having been heaped up more abundantly in some points than in others ;
and occasionally the heaps surround an irregular free space, where the coast-
people doubtless had built their huts, which may have been of the most
primitive description, probably poles stuck in the ground and covered with skins.
Rude hearths consisting of a kind of pavement of pebbles, not exceeding the
size of a man’s fist, have been discovered in the refuse-heaps. These fire-places
are more or less circular, only a few feet in diameter, and surrounded with

* In English publications the plural form ‘‘ Kjokkenméddings”’ is generally applied.

+ As may be imagined, shell-deposits of artificial origin are not confined to Europe, but also oceur along the
littoral districts of other continents. Coast-tribes, deriving their means of subsistence chiefly from the sea, neces-
sarily will leave there the tokens of their presence. In America such shell-heaps are frequent, and have been
observed from West Greenland to Tierra del Fuego, and also on the western sea-board. I shall devote a section
of this publication to North American shell-deposits.

ARTIFICIAL SHELL-DEPOSITS. 35

charcoal and ashes. The coast-people manufactured a kind of very primitive
pottery, fragments of which are found commingled with the shells. The clay is
always mixed with coarse sand, produced by the trituration of stones, and added
for the purpose of preventing the cracking of the vessels while in the fire.

The Danish kj6kkenméddings have yielded a number of awls, chisels, comb-
shaped articles, and other tools made of horn and bone, and in great abundance
chipped flint implements, such as flakes, piercers, lance-head-shaped objects,
slingstones(?), and notably axes of a peculiar shape, and therefore called “ shell-
mound axes.” They probably served in opening bivalves. I am not aware
that any objects directly referable to fishing, such as fish-hooks, harpoon-
heads, sinkers, etc., have occurred among the refuse. The flint implements are
mostly of a rude character, and inferior to the well-finished specimens of chipped
flint so frequent in Denmark. Polished stone implements, however, are not
entirely wanting in the kitchen-middens. Taking into account, additionally, the
fauna of the period, presently to be considered, it may not be amiss to refer the
Danish kitchen-middens provisionally to the early part of the neolithic period.
Messrs. Worsaae and Steenstrup themselves are not quite in accord concerning
the antiquity of the Danish kitchen-middens. While the last-named gentleman
attributes them to the dolmen-builders, the former considers them as belonging
to an earlier epoch.* There is no evidence that man lived in the Scandinavian
North during quaternary times.+

The coast-people certainly led a very rude life, being, as it appears, unac-
quainted with agriculture, and compelled to subsist entirely on the spoils of the
sea and the forest. No traces of carbonized cereals have been found in the
kitchen-middens ; but masses of what is thought to be the residue of burned
eel-grass (Zostera marina, Lin.) occur in their immediate neighborhood. Not
many centuries ago, salt was produced on the Danish sea-shores by sprinkling
sea-water over burning heaps of this marine plant; and hence it is thought the
ancient coast-dwellers had obtained salt by the same process. It is not quite
certain whether these people inhabited the sea-board only in summer or during
the whole year, though the character of the bones and antlers, which belong to
animals of different ages, would favor the view that they lived there through
successive seasons. Although they derived their sustenance mainly from the
sea, the bones of mammals and birds scattered through the refuse show that
the chase furnished a part of their provisions. ‘The list of the former comprises
the stag, roe, wild boar, urus, dog, fox, wolf, marten, otter, porpoise, seal, water-

* Bulletins du Congrés d’Archéologie Préhistorique 4 Copenhague en 1869; Copenhagen, 1872; p. 145, ete.

+ “ Von einer eigentlichen Besiedelung des hohen scandinavischen Nordens oder des nordéstlichen Europas
uberhaupt in jener Periode der Steinzeit, welche die Mammuth-und Rennthierperiode oder die ‘ paliolithische
Zeit’ genannt wird, sind noch keine Spuren nachgewiesen.’’—Worsaae: Die Vorgeschichte des Nordens nach |

gleichzeitigen Denkmialern; in’s Deutsche tibertragen von J. Mestorf ; Hamburg, 1878; p. 17.

36 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

rat, beaver, lynx, wild cat, hedgehog, black bear, and mouse. Next to the
sea-animals, the stag, roe, and wild boar evidently constituted the principal
food of the coast-people. The dog, which is represented by a small race,
seems to have been their only domesticated animal, and, as the bones show,
was also eaten by them, as it is by our Indians, who keep dogs as companions,
and use them as food, especially on solemn occasions. The urus (Bos prini-
genius, Boj.) has become extinct within historical times, and the wolf, black
bear, wild cat, lynx, and beaver are no longer found in Denmark. No bones
of the hare have occurred among the shell-heaps, perhaps for the reason
that those ancient people were prevented by superstitious motives, like the
Laplanders of our day, from eating that animal. The reindeer and elk are
missing in the kjokkenmoddings, though their former presence in Denmark has
been proved by the discovery of their bones.

Remains of aquatic birds, such as wild ducks, geese, and swans, are often
met with among the shells. The great penguin or auk (Alcea impennis, Lin.) and
the capereailzie or mountain-cock (Zetrao wrogallus, Lin.) deserve special mention.
The great auk, a bird incapable of flying, being provided with mere apologies
for wings, is said to have been totally exterminated everywhere by man.
According to Professor Carl Vogt, it was found in Iceland, its last retreat, until
the year 1842, after which it became extinct.* The capercailzie, a bird no longer
found in Denmark, though still inhabiting the forests of Germany, feeds in
spring chiefly on the buds of the pine, a tree not growing naturally at present
in Denmark, but very common during the stone age, as has been ascertained by
the examination of Danish peat-bogs. Thus it would seem that the disappear-
ance of the pine from Denmark caused the capercailzie to leave that country.
Remains of the domestic fowl, the stork, swallow, and sparrow are wanting in the
kitchen-middens.

The coast-people broke all the long bones of mammals, or split them length-
wise, for extracting the marrow; those containing no marrow are left entire, but
gnawed both by men and dogs, as the impressions of the teeth indicate.

Human remains, attributable to the people of this period, have not been
met with among the débris.

Capture of Mollusks and Fish—The oyster (Ostrea edulis, Lin.) is the species
of shell-fish occurring most abundantly in the kitchen-middens, its shells some-
times constituting almost entirely their contents. Next follow, in the order of
their frequency, the cockle (Cardium edule, Lin.), mussel (Mytilus edulis, Lin.),
and periwinkle (Littorina littorea, Lin.), all of which are eaten by man at the
present time. Other marine and even terrestrial shells, such as Massa reticulata,
Lin., and species of Buecinum, Venus, Helix, etc., are mentioned as occurring

* Vogt: Vorlesungen tber den Menschen; Giessen, 1863; Vol. IT, p. 114.

ARTIFICIAL SHELL-DEPOSITS. 37

in the refuse; but they appear in small number, and have added but little
to the bulk of the shell-heaps. In regard to the oyster, it is worthy of remark
that this bivalve has disappeared from the neighborhood of the kitchen-
middens, being now confined to a few localities on the Cattegat. Yet even there
it never attains the large size characterizing the oysters of the old shell-beds.
The cockles and periwinkles, too, though still living in the same waters, are
much smaller than those of ancient times. These changes have been attributed
to a diminution of the saline matter in the water of the Baltic Sea.

The crustaceans are represented in the kitchen-middens by a few fragments
of crabs.

“Fish-remains are quite abundant, especially those of the herring (Clupea
harengus, Lin.); but bones of the dorse (Gadus callarias, Lin.), dab (Pleuronectes
limanda, Lin.), and eel (Murena anguilla, Lin.) are also quite common.

Nothing definite is known concerning the methods employed by the coast-
dwellers for obtaining their prey from the sea, no implements having been
discovered that afford any clue. The nature of their captures, however, indicates
that they had to venture upon the open sea, in order to make them; and they
probably availed themselves of small boats, perhaps formed of trunks of trees,
hollowed by means of fire. That they used nets appears highly probable, though
direct indications of that practice, in the shape of prepared net-sinkers, have not

been found.

LAKE-DWELLINGS.

Character.—The facts hitherto considered in these pages bear rather indis-
tinctly upon prehistoric fishing in Europe. Though we know well enough that
the cave-men and the people who left the kitchen-middens practised fishing, we
have scarcely any positive knowledge concerning the methods employed by them
in their piscatorial pursuits, and must leave it in a great measure to imagination
to supply that want. Far more precise information concerning fishing in ancient
times was obtained in the course of the examinations of pile-buildings in the
lakes of Switzerland and other countries of Europe. The existence of the
remains of these lacustrine settlements became known in the winter of 1854,
when the water in the Swiss lakes had sunk much below its ordinary level, laying
bare large tracts of land along their shores. A rare chance was thus afforded to
the people of the neighborhood for adding to their lands by building walls near
the water’s edge as a means for cutting off denuded areas. So it happened at
Meilen, on the Lake of Ziirich, where, during the progress of such operations,
pieces of a rude kind of pottery, articles of stone, bone, and horn, hard-shelled
fruits and other vegetable remains, and rows of decayed wooden piles were
discovered in the mud of the lake. The late Dr. Ferdinand Keller, President

38 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

of the Antiquarian Society of Ziirich, who afterward acquired so much reputation
by the reports in which he elucidates the subject of Swiss lacustrine settlements,
proceeded to Meilen, in order to inspect the relics and the place where they had
been exhumed. Being an experienced antiquarian, he recognized without diffi-
eulty the character of the relics, and, summing up his observations, concluded
that the piles had served as the supports of platforms on which the ancient
inhabitants of this locality erected their dwellings, thus living above the surface
of the water and at some distance from the shore, with which they communicated
by means of a narrow bridge. To Dr. Keller, therefore, belongs the merit of
having first pointed out the true character of lacustrine remains, and of having
inaugurated a series of discoveries hardly surpassed in importance by any yet
made in the domain of prehistoric archzeology.* It was now remembered that
in times not long past, fishermen had lived in cabins built in the Limmat, a
small river issuing from the Lake of Ziirich. The works of modern travelers
were found to contain accounts of certain Asiatic and Polynesian populations
who still inhabit buildings erected on piles in the water, thus perpetuating a
custom prevailing in times beyond record and tradition in the lake-regions of
Switzerland, and a passage in Herodotus, relating to the Pzeonians, a tribe that
dwelled, 520 years before the Christian era, on Lake Prasias, in Thrace (modern
Roumelia), was now often quoted as illustrative of the ancient Helvetian mode
of life. There are also pile-dwellings in America.+

* The English version of Dr. Keller’s reports bears the title: The Lake Dwellings of Switzerland and other
Parts of Europe, by Dr. Ferdinand Keller, President of the Antiquarian Association of Ztirich. Second Edition,
greatly enlarged. Translated and arranged by John Edward Lee, F.S. A., F. G.S., Author of “Isca Silu-
rum,’ ete. In two Volumes. London, 1878.—Hereafter I shall often have occasion to quote this translation.

7 Alonzo de Ojeda, a Spanish nobleman, who had been a companion of Columbus on his second expedition,
undertook in 1499, independently, a voyage for the purpose of exploring the northern coast of South America.
He was accompanied by the Florentine, Amerigo Vespucci, who has left an account of this voyage, from which
Washington Irving derived the following statement: ‘‘ Proceeding along the coast, they arrived at a vast deep
gulf, resembling a tranquil lake, entering which they beheld on the eastern side a village, the construction of
which struck them with surprise. It consisted of twenty large houses, shaped like bells, and built on piles driven
into the bottom of the lake, which in this part was limpid and of but little depth. Each house was provided with
a draw-bridge and with canoes, by which the communication was carried on. From this resemblance to the
Italian city, Ojeda gave the bay the name of the Gulf of Venice, and it is called at the present day Venezuela, or
Little Venice; the Indian name was Coquibacoa.”’—Irving: The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus ;
New York, 1859; Vol. IIT, p. 28.

It is worthy of notice that in the Gulf (Lake) of Maracaibo, south of the Bay of Venezuela, and communi-
cating with it, pile-buildings are still erected by the half-civilized Goajiro Indians. A German traveler, Mr. A.
Goering, gives an account of a visit to these Indians in ‘Illustrated Travels” (Vol. IL, p. 19-21), an extract of
which, accompanied by representations of the dwellings, is contained in Keller’s ‘‘ Lake Dwellings ’’ (Vol. I,
p. 778-9). ‘* The houses, with low sloping roofs,’’.he says, ‘“‘ were like so many little cock-lofts perched on high
over the shallow waters, and they were connected with each other by means of bridges, made of narrow planks, the
split stems of palm-trees. ——— We were invited to enter one of the huts. To do this we had to perform a
feat worthy of some of the monkeys in the neighboring woods, for we had to climb an upright pole by means of
notches cut into its sides. Hach house, or cock-loft, consisted of two parts, the pent-roof shelter being partitioned
oif in the middle; the front apartment served the double purpose of entrance-hall and kitchen, the rear apartment
as a reception and dwelling-chamber, and I was not a little surprised to observe how clean it was kept. The floor

LAKE-DWELLINGS. 39

When the results of Dr. Keller’s investigations became known by his
writings, a general search for similar memorials of former times was made in
the many lakes of the republic, and such unexpected success rewarded the efforts
of the explorers, that more than three hundred lacustrine settlements are now
known to exist in Switzerland and a part of Germany bordering on the Lake of
Constance, and others have been discovered in the Lombardian lakes, in Savoy,
Bavaria, Austria, Mecklenburg, Prussia, and in some districts of France, even
at the foot of the Pyrenees. Hence it is evident that the habit of erecting
dwellings in lakes was at one period widely spread over Europe. Nowhere,
however, have these remains been found in greater number than in Switzerland,
a country abounding in lakes, which naturally invited such aquatic colonies.
In fact, the shore-lines of most of the Helvetian lakes are marked with the
traces of these ancient habitations. In this connection should be mentioned the
lakes of Neuchatel, Geneva, Constance, Bienne, Morat, Zug, Ztirich, Sempach,
Pfaffikon (Canton of Ztirich), Moosseedorf (near Berne), Nussbaumen (Canton of
Thurgau), Inkwyl (near Soleure, or Solothurn), and Wauwyl (Canton of Lucerne).

The oldest lake-settlements date back to the neolithic period, and these, of
course, are first to be considered in these pages. The pile-work at the bank of
Lake Pfaffikon, near Robenhausen, for instance, has not yielded any articles of
bronze, but some earthern crucibles containing lumps of melted bronze, and at
Meilen only a bronze celt (or hatchet) and a bracelet of the same alloy were
found; which facts demonstrate that these colonies still flourished at the time
when bronze was introduced. There are inmany other lake-settlements in which,
among hundreds of articles of stone, horn, bone, or wood, not the slightest trace
of metal has occurred. These stations of the pure stone age are chiefly found in
Eastern Switzerland. Most of those in the western lakes of the Helvetian
republic have furnished articles both of stone and of bronze, and in some
stations tools and weapons of iron, thought to be Gallic in character, and even
coins and other objects of Roman origin, have come to light. It thus appears
that these lacustrine colonies existed for a very long period, which was character-
ized by remarkable changes in the condition of man, whose progress, whatever

was formed of split stems of trees, set close together and covered with mats. Weapons and utensils were placed

in order in the corners.’? Mr. Goering has also published a description of these Indian pile-dwellings in the
“Gartenlaube”’ (1879, p. 404, ete.), with a good view of a group of the aquatic habitations. ‘Similar pile-
buildings,” he observes, ‘are numerous along the shores of the lake ; they often form whole villages, which
present a most curious aspect in a dark night, when the lighted huts are mirrored in the waters of the lake.”’? All

this tends to verify Vespucci’s account. ‘Tribes at the mouth of the Orinoco and Amazon resort to pile-dwellings

more or less similar to those here described.—See also a very good article by Dr. A. Ernst, entitled ‘“‘ Die Goajiro-
Indianer,”’ in ‘‘ Zeitschrift fur Ethnologie,” Vol. II, 1870; p. 828, ete.
The city of Mexico was originally a village built on piles, and other Aztec places situated near lakes were

thus constructed. I am not aware that remains of aboriginal pile-dwellings have been noticed in the United

States; but it would not at all be surprising to find them. Balize, a small pilot-town near the mouth of the

Mississippi River, is built on piles. I saw this curious village in 1848.

40 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

its causes may have been, can be traced in an uninterrupted line. Though some
of the settlements are supposed to have been abandoned toward the beginning
of the Christian era, it is notable that they are not mentioned by Czesar, who
had become acquainted with the Helvetians by his wars, nor by Pliny, an author
particularly fond of dwelling on details. No account, no tradition, alludes to
these peculiar structures, which evidently were designed to protect their occu-
pants from the attacks of wild beasts and human enemies.

A detailed description of the lake-dwellings pertaining to neolithic times
would be out of place in this publication, which is devoted to a special subject ;
and I therefore confine myself to a general account of these early lacustrine
structures.

They were located in shallow places, and never very far from the shore, with
which each communicated by means of a narrow bridge, as before stated. The
upright piles were mostly whole stems of trees growing in the neighborhood,
usually from four to eight inches in diameter, and roughly pointed at the lower end
by means of fire or the stone hatchet. Upon these piles, brought to a level several
feet above the water, and strengthened by cross-timbers, rested the platform, often
merely composed of unbarked stems lying parallel to each other, but sometimes
consisting of boards two inches thick, which were fastened with wooden pegs into
the frame-work, thus forming an even and solid floor. The lacustrine settlement
near the German village of Wangen, on the Untersee, the northwestern detached
part of the Lake of Constance, contained from forty to fifty thousand posts, and
formed a parallelogram seven hundred paces long and one hundred and twenty
at Robenhausen, for instance—probably
twice as many piles were required. When the bottom of the lake was rocky, or

broad; but in other lake-villages

afforded no sufficient hold to the stakes, stones were heaped up between and
around them, in order to consolidate the erection. These stones, of course, had
to be brought in boats to the designated spots. Some dwellings were not erected
on piles, but on a kind of fascine-work, formed by layers of sticks and stems of
trees, stones, and loam, built up from the bottom of the lake until the foundation
was high enough to receive the platform. The upright piles found in these
substructures only served to give them steadiness. These fascine-structures,
reminding one of the Irish and Scottish crannogs, only occur in small lakes.
The huts erected on the platforms, it has been ascertained, were mostly of a
rectangular shape, and consisted of a wooden frame-work wattled with rods or
twigs, and covered both inside and outside with a layer of clay from two to three
inches thick. The roofs, it seems, were made of bark, straw, or rushes, the
remains of which have often been found in a carbonized state. A plaster of clay
mixed with gravel was spread on the floor of the hut to fill the chinks, and a
rude hearth, composed of several slabs of sandstone, occupied the middle of each
cabin.

LAKE-DWELLINGS. 41

During the long occupation of the lacustrine villages many objects, no
doubt, fell accidentally into the water; while large quantities of refuse, such as
the bones of the consumed animals and broken clay vessels, were intentionally
thrown over the platforms, and, as may be assumed, through the interstices of
the stems or planks forming them. These heterogeneous accumulations
became imbedded in the mud, forming what are now—ages afterward—
called the archeological strata or relic-beds, upon which for many years the
dredging-implements of antiquaries have operated, and brought to light the
evidences of a most curious, long-forgotten phase of human existence. In a
number of cases the bulk of these relic-beds has been increased by the ruin of the
villages themselves, some of which, there can be no doubt, were consumed by
fire. These conflagrations cannot have taken place in consequence of hostile
attacks, because human skeletons are exceedingly scarce in the pile-works, and
therefore must be ascribed to accidental ignitions, which were likely to befall
wooden straw-roofed huts, each of them provided with an open hearth, probably
blazing most of the time. When such calamities happened, many articles fell
into the water in a charred state, and were preserved to our days, owing to the
almost indestructible nature of carbonized substances. Several Swiss lakes have
much decreased in extent, and their ancient shores are fringed with formations
of peat, which now inclose in some instances the remains of lacustrine villages
formerly surrounded by water. Such is the case at Moosseedorf, near Berne; at
Wauwyl, in the Canton of Lucerne; and at Robenhausen, on the Lake of
Pfaffikon, where the owner of the celebrated pile-work, Mr. Jacob Messikommer,
has been successfully engaged for years in extracting relics of the early lacustrine
period from moor-ground and peat.

The builders of the early pile-works, it must beadmitted, were an intelligent
and industrious people, who applied to the utmost the scanty means which their
primitive state of civilization offered them. They pursued hunting and fishing,
but devoted themselves also to agriculture and the raising of cattle; they were
skillful workers in stone, horn, bone, and wood, practised the art of pottery to a
great extent, and produced very creditable tissues, employing a loom of simple
construction. The various occupations of the lake-men, and the fact of their
living in close communities, indicate no small degree of social order, which
necessitated submission to the decrees of chiefs or a majority of the people.

They employed flint and jasper in the manufacture of arrow and spear-heads,
hardly distinguishable from those found in the United States, scrapers, saws,
and various cutting and piercing-tools. Some of the saws, mostly two or three
inches long, still retain their wooden handles, into which they were cemented
with asphaltum, a substance also employed for fastening arrow-heads in their
shafts. Quite frequent are the ground celts or wedge-shaped hatchets, made of
serpentine, gabbro, hornblende-rock, diorite, syenite, and other kinds of tough

42 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

stone, and doubtless used for various purposes. Some, which represent chisels,
were set in pieces of deer-horn, hollowed at one end for receiving the blade, and
forming convenient handles. Larger ones served as axe-heads, being either in-
serted directly into the thick end of a wooden club, or into an intermediate deer-
horn socket worked into a square form at the upper end, to fit into a corresponding
cavity of the wooden shaft. These statements are not conjectural, a few complete
axes, blade and shaft united, having been discovered in the pile-works. At Meilen
and other lacustrine stations there have been found celts made of nephrite and
jadeite, hard mineral substances, not known to occur in Europe, but not
uncommon in different parts of Asia. Some, who ascribe the lacustrine settle-
ments to new-comers from abroad, have suggested that they imported these
implements, which doubtless were much valued on account of their hardness and
greenish color. Various lake-villages of the stone age have furnished well-shaped
stone axes pierced for the insertion of handles. Among other stone objects
found in the pile-works may be mentioned slabs of hard sandstone upon which
the celts, ete., were ground, grain-crushers, and flat or more or less concave slabs
used in connection with them, hammers in the shape of pebbles of suitable form
and little or not at all modified by art, net-sinkers, and spindle-whorls.

Most varied were the uses the lake-men made of the horns, bones, and teeth
of animals. The horns of the stag were made into the handles and celt-sockets
already mentioned; stout pieces of this material, perforated with holes for
holding wooden handles, served, according to the manner in which their ends
were fashioned, as hammers, hatchets, or hoes; and the antler was sometimes
converted into a weapon or a hoe by the removal of the prongs, excepting that
near the brow. Bones furnished the material for arrow and_ spear-heads,
poniards, chisels, scrapers, piercers, needles with or without eyes, fishing-
implements, and other articles. The teeth of the bear and the tusks of the
wild boar were utilized for similar purposes, the latter, for instance, to serve
as cutting or scraping-tools, after the inner curve had been ground to an edge.
The lake-dwellers, like the men of palzeolithic times, wore the perforated teeth
of certain animals as trophies or amulets.

The number of objects of wood preserved in peat and water shows how
extensively that material was used by the lake-dwellers. They consist of handles
and shafts for implements, maces resembling that with which Hercules is usually
represented, mallets used in driving the piles and for other purposes, bows,
threshing-flails, ladles, dippers, bowls, tubs,* and boats made of a single trunk ;
besides knife-shaped tools, combs, primitive racks for suspending apparel and
utensils, and various other objects.

That pottery was abundantly made even in the lake-settlements of earliest

* These vessels bear a great resemblance to the woodenware of the same class made at the present time.

LAKE-DWELLINGS. 43

date is proved by the great number of sherds scattered over their sites. Entire
vessels also have been found, partly flat-bottomed. The material is mostly
unpurified clay mixed with coarse gravel, pounded granite, small fragments of
shells, or charcoal. The vessels are of rather rude appearance, and slightly
baked, probably in an open fire. Yet attempts at decoration are not wanting,
some of the vessels being encircled by knobs below the rim, or showing rows of
impressions made with the finger* or some blunt tool; while in other cases lines
are traced with an implement or by pressing a cord on the soft clay. Most of
the pottery has a blackish appearance, owing to a coating with some dark
pigment. There is evidence that vessels of larger size were used for storing
grain, apples, and other provisions. This pottery can hardly be distinguished
from that formerly made by the Indians in the eastern half of the present
United States.

Not the least interesting among the lacustrine relics, preserved in conse-
quence of their carbonization, are the twisted, plaited, and woven manufactures,
which were found at various stations, but especially at Robenhausen and Wangen.
A kind of short flax was cultivated by the lake-men, and used most extensively in
the fabrication not only of thread, cordage, and nets for fishing, and probably
for hunting, but also of different sorts of linen cloth, some with inwoven
patterns, a fact proving that they employed a loom. Numerous spindle-whorls,
either of stone or of clay, bear witness to the common practice of spinning.
The lake-people doubtless dressed to a great extent in woven garments; but it
may be assumed that they also employed the prepared skins of animals for that
purpose. Indeed, fragments of leather have been found at Robenhausen.

During the early lacustrine period hunting still furnished in no small
degree the means of subsistence, as shown by the large number of bones of wild
animals found on the sites of the ancient lake-villages. Professor Rutimeyer,
of Basel, has carefully investigated the fauna of those times, which, on the
whole, corresponds to that of our days, though certain species of animals now
no longer found in Switzerland then inhabited that country. The urus and
aurochs, or bison, were hunted by the lake-men, or perhaps caught by them in
pitfalls. The elk, an animal not known to have lived in Switzerland in
historical times, still roamed through the woods; but the reindeer, it is hardly
necessary to repeat, had migrated northward in search of a colder climate. The
stag and wild boar, both no longer living in Switzerland, were much hunted by
the lake-dwellers, and their bones indicate animals of very large size. Another
species of wild hog, differing from the wild boar proper, and called the ‘“ marsh-
hog” by Riitimeyer, is represented by numerous remains in the pile-works.

* The impressions indicate small hands. The lacustrine ceramic art, it may be assumed, was practised by

women, as it was, and still is, among the North American Indians.

44 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

Bones of the roe-deer are far less abundant than those of the stag. The hare,
it seems, formed no article of diet among these people, owing, perhaps, to the
same prejudice which caused the men of the Danish kj6kkenméddings to abstain
from its flesh. Among the carnivores may be mentioned the brown bear, wolf,
and fox, the last-named of which occurs frequently in the settlements under
notice, and was eaten by the lake-men, as proved by the condition of its bones.
The lake-dwellers possessed a species of domestic dog of middle size, which they
seem to have much valued, if the fact that it was not used as food, unless in
cases of extreme need, warrants such a conclusion. Remains of the horse are
exceedingly scarce in the settlements of the stone age; but two kinds of cattle
were common during that period, one of them small, and called ‘ marsh-cow ”’
by Professor Riitimeyer; the second species, larger in size, is supposed by this
author to have descended from the urus. The other domesticated animals were
goats and sheep. ‘Traces of the tamed hog are almost entirely wanting in the
oldest settlements of the stone age; but they become more numerous in later
periods of lacustrine occupancy. It has been ascertained beyond doubt that the
tamed animals were brought for shelter to the lake-villages, where they were
kept in stalls distributed between the huts. The large bones of quadrupeds are
nearly always broken or split for extracting the marrow. Remains of domestic
fowl have not been discovered. The wild birds which have left their traces in the
deposits around the piles, all pertaining to the present fauna of Switzerland, are
wild ducks, geese, swans, water-hens, grouse, and some other species of the
feathered tribe. They evidently were objects of the chase. The amphibians are
represented by the common water-turtle (Cistudo europea), still occasionally found
in Swiss lakes, two species of frog and one of toad. The remains of fishes,
which, as may be expected, are numerous, will be considered in a separate
section, in accordance with the plan adopted in this publication.

Carbonized vegetable remains have been preserved in great abundance and
variety, to assist, as it were, in elucidating the mode of life of those ancient
lake-villagers. ‘They undoubtedly raised barley, wheat, and millet, several kinds
of each of these cereals having been found in the lacustrine deposits. Some of
these species of grain were cultivated in Egypt, and therefore are believed to
have found their way from that country to Switzerland. Rye was not known to
the colonists, and oats not before bronze had come into use. Barley and wheat
appear either in grains, sometimes in considerable quantities, or, more rarely,
in the shape of ears; and even carbonized wheat-bread, in which the bran and
the imperfectly-crushed grains can be distinctly seen, has been found at Roben-
hausen and Wangen. This unleavened prehistoric bread, which is very coarse
and compact, mostly occurs in fragments, but sometimes in the form of roundish
cakes, about an inch or an inch and a half thick, and four or five inches or more
in diameter, and was doubtless baked by placing the dough on hot stones, and

FISH-REMAINS. 45

covering it over with glowing ashes. Millet was employed in a similar manner
for making bread. It is probable, however, that the lake-people consumed their
farinaceous food chiefly in the shape of porridge.

Carbonized apples of small size, identical with those growing wild in the
woods of Switzerland, have been found abundantly, and in a tolerable state of
preservation. They are often cut in halves, more rarely in three or four parts,
and were evidently dried for consumption during winter. Whether a larger
kind of apple, found at Robenhausen, was a cultivated or a wild-growing species,
remains undecided. Professor Oswald Heer, of Ziirich, who has published an
interesting work on lacustrine vegetable remains, inclines to the former view.
Wild pears were treated in the same manner; but they are far less common
than apples, which must have formed a much-sought article of diet. Among
other vegetable remains accumulated in the lake-mud may be mentioned hazel-
nuts and beech-nuts, both in great plenty ; also water-chestnuts, which doubtless
were collected and eaten by the lake-men, as they are in Upper Italy at this day.
Their presen t occurrence in Switzerland appears to be restricted to a tarn in the
Canton of Lucerne. There have further been found the stones of sloes, bird-
cherries and wild plums, and seeds of the raspberry, blackberry, and strawberry,
showing that these fruits of the forest were used as food. Excepting peas, no
culinary vegetables have appeared in the stone-age settlements. Allusion having
been made to the cultivation of flax, it may further be stated that hemp was
totally unknown to the lake-dwellers, even to those of a later period.

According to Dr. Keller, the lake-colonists of the stone age drew their
sustenance chiefly from the vegetable kingdom. Their animal food was acquired
by hunting rather than by the breeding of cattle, considering that in the
accumulations around the piles the bones of wild animals outnumber those of the
domestic species. In the bronze-yielding pile-works, it will be seen, the propor-
tion is reversed.

Fish-remains—People living upon lakes plentifully stocked with fish, it
can be imagined, availed themselves of all means in their power for capturing
them, and the numerous remains of fishes discovered on the sites of the ancient
lacustrine villages bear witness to the extent of their efforts in that direction.
Not only the bones of fishes, but also their scales, the latter even in a good state
of preservation, have been extracted from the lake-mud. ‘With respect to
fishes,” says Professor Riitimeyer, ‘‘ many species were found which are now the
most abundant in our lakes and rivers.” The following are mentioned :—

The salmon (Salmo salar, Lin.), the pike (Hsow luctus, Lin.), the perch
(Perca fluviatilis, Lin.), the carp (Cyprinus carpio, Lin.), the dace (Cyprinus

* Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. I, p. 537.

46 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

leuciscus, Lin.), the chub (Cyprinus dobula, Nilss.), the nase (Chondrostoma nasus,
[Lin.] Agass.), the burbot (Lota vulgaris, Jen.), and the rud (Scardinius erythro-
phthalmus, (Lin.] Bon.).*

Pike of very large size are mentioned. Fish-remains were most abundant
at the stations of Robenhausen and Moosseedorf.

Fishing-implements——The relics directly referable to fishing, which have
been discovered in the lacustrine relic-beds, render it certain that the ancient
lake-dwellers fished with the line and with nets, and there can hardly be any
doubt that they speared fish. Their mode of life rendered the use of boats
necessary, and some of them, indeed, have been preserved to our time.

Such pointed bone rods as probably were used during the reindeer-period,
instead of real fish-hooks, oceur frequently in the deposits around the piles of
ancient lake-villages, and no doubts are entertained as to their use. Dr. Keller,
in treating of the antiquities found at Wangen, déscribes them in these words :—

“Tishing-implements made of bone. These occur very abundantly. A
straight pin or shank is cut away a little, or has an incision round it in the
middle, to which the fishing-line is attached, and then the little pin is quite
covered over with the bait; when swallowed it cannot easily be got rid of by the
fish. This plan is now in use on the Untersee for catching ducks.”+

Fic. 39.—Wangen. Fic. 40.—Wangen. Fic. 41.—Lake of Neuchatel. Fic, 42.—Lake of Neuchatel.
Ait

Fics. 89-42.—Double-pointed bone implements.

* Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. I, p 544.

+ Ibid.; Vol. I, p. 71.—‘‘ M. de la Blanchére tells us that in France a similar form of instrument is used for
catching eels. A straight piece of elder is taken, a needle pointed at both ends is passed through it; this is baited,
and so eels are caught.”-—Barnet Phillips: Transactions of the American Tish Cultural Association, New York,

1879; p. 53.

DOUBLE-POINTED BONE IMPLEMENTS. 47

The lake-people may have used them for catching fish as well as aquatic
birds.

Figs. 39 and 40 represent such fishing-implements from Wangen.* Their
character is so plainly expressed by the illustrations that a description becomes
superfluous. There are several pointed bones of this character in the archzeo-
logical collection of the United States National Museum. I give in Figs 41 and
42 representations of two of them, which were obtained from one of the pile-
works in the Lake of Neuchatel. However, I would not assert that their apph-
cation really was that of bait-holders, considering the absence of notches or
grooves in the middle.

1
2

Fig. 43.—Bone arrow-head (?). Saint-Aubin.

M. Henri Le Hon believes that somewhat curved specimens of this class
served as arrow-heads, being attached to the end of the shaft in a manner to
form both point and barb, as indicated by Fig. 48, which is copied from his
work.; The original, he states, was obtained from the stone-age settlement near
Saint-Aubin, in the Lake of Neuchatel. If it really is as represented, all doubts
as to its use must cease; but the design, for aught I know, may show an imagi-
nary connection of point and shaft.

Real fish-hooks, made of horn, bone, and boars’ tusks, approaching
modern forms, and, in some cases, objects of less characteristic shapes, but
supposed to represent fish-hooks, are not wanting in the lacustrine deposits of
early date. Yet they appear to occur in limited number, only a few being
figured in Dr. Keller’s work. Fortunately I derive some aid from the reports
on the International Fishery Exhibition, held at Berlin in 1880, in which
delineations of some Swiss hooks are given.

* Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. II, Plate XIV, Figs. 23 and 24.
+ Le Hon: L’Homme Fossile en Europe; fifth edition ; Brussels and Paris ; 1877, p. 215. (Seep. 14, first note).

48 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

Fig. 44 is a reproduction of one of the represented specimens characterized
as fish-hooks.* It was found at Wangen, and is said to consist of bone; If,
indeed, the object was applied as a fish-hook, it can, of course, only have served
for catching larger kinds of fish.

HI
BI

Fia. 44.—Wangen. Fic. 45.—Moosseedorf. Fic. 46.—Moosseedorf.

Fras. 44-46.—Fish-hooks of deer-horn and boars’ tusks.

The original of Fig. 45 is described by Dr. Keller as “a fish-hook made of
the tusk of a wild boar.”{ To judge from the illustration, the specimen, which
was obtained at Moosseedorf, is in its present form of rather unpromising
appearance; but it seems that a portion of the hook has been removed by
fracture. While complete, it may have fulfilled its purpose well enough.

There can be no doubt as to the character of the original of Fig. 46, which
was also found at Moosseedorf, and is thus described :—‘ Fish-hook made of a
boar’s tusk; it was manufactured in the following manner: two holes were bored
through it, the space between them was cleared away, and the whole was then
finished by scraping-tools.’’§

Figs. 47 and 48 are reproductions of designs representing two well-defined
bone fish-hooks from Wangen, somewhat resembling that just described. The
shanks, however, show no incision for the attachment of a line, as in the preceding
case. They were exhibited at Berlin in 1880.||

* Amtliche Berichte tiber die Internationale Fischerei-Ausstellung zu Berlin, 1880.—Wissenschaftliche
Abtheilung. Geschichte der Fischerei (von E. Friedel); Berlin, 1881; p. 128, Fig. 82.

+ The material is doubtless deer-horn.

{ Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. I, p. 88; Vol. II, Plate V, Fig. 14.
§ Ibid.; Vol. I, p. 39; Vol. II, Plate XXII, Fig. 5.

|| Amtliche Berichte; p. 128, Figs. 80 and 81.

TFISH-HOOKS. 49

The original of Fig. 49, which is copied from Keller’s “ Lake Dwellings,” *
has been regarded as a double fish-hook. This specimen, made of deer-horn,
was found at the station of Saint-Aubin. I will not attempt to decide whether
it served as a fishing-implement or for some other purpose.

Fic. 47.—Wangen. Fic. 48.—Wangen. Fic. 49.—Saint-Aubin.

Fics. 47-49.—Bone and deer-horn fish-hooks.

None of the hooks here represented are barbed, though the perforations
in Figs. 46, 47, and 48 leave projections which partake to some extent of the
character of barbs.

The lake-men unquestionably used stone sinkers for deep-water fishing
with hook and line; but as it is in many cases impossible to draw a line of
demarcation between line and net-weights, I shall subsequently refer to them
when treating of the objects characterized as sinkers.

Small pieces of bark of oval or rectangular, and sometimes of rather
irregular, outline, pierced with one hole, or with two, which have been called
floats for nets, are not unfrequent in some of the lacustrine relic-beds. The
objects of this class figured in Keller’s “ Lake Dwellings” apppear to be too
small to have been used for floating nets, and the same holds good for the
specimens in the collection of the United States National Museum as well as in
my own, which latter were obtained at Robenhausen, and sent to me by Mr.
Messikommer, many years ago, among a series of relics from that locality.
Larger ones, however, suitable for buoying nets, are in the collection of the
Peabody Museum of American Archeology and Ethnology, at Cambridge,
Massachusetts, and one of them will be described by me hereafter. I am of
opinion that the smaller objects of the class here considered were employed as
floats for fishing-lines, taking the place of the cork floats used in our days.
Figs. 50 and 51 represent specimens in my collection. The original of Fig. 50

* Vol. II, Plate XLIII, Fig. 14.

50 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

is a flat piece of bark, not quite three-eighths of an inch in thickness, and
pierced with a hole nearly in the middle. Fig. 51 shows a form like that of a
boat with truncated ends. In this instance a hole is placed near each extremity.

Fia. 50. Fic. 51,

Fries. 50 and 51.—Bark floats. Robenhausen.

The lower surface is flat, the upper one, seen in the figure, irregularly convex.
The two holes would have facilitated the sliding of the float along the fishing-line,
before fastening it at the desired distance from the hook. ‘There are two bark
floats of this shape in the archzeological collection of the United States National
Museum, both likewise from Robenhausen.

ag
2

Fia. 52.—Robenhausen. Fie. 53.—Robenhausen, Fie. 54.—* Arpion.”

Frias. 52-54—Wooden implements used for recovering fishing-lines.

In connection with the line-fishing of the lake-men I have to describe a
rather numerous class of simple wooden implements which bear much resem-
blance to the twirling-sticks used in making chocolate. They consist of a piece
of a small tree-stem with the stumps of the lateral branches projecting from its
lower end. Fig. 52 represents an object of this kind from Robenhausen, which
is apparently much better preserved than others from the same locality.* I

* Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. II, Plate X, Fig. 12.

ARPIONS. 51

possess myself two of them and have seen others, all of which present a much
rougher appearance than the specimen here figured. I place alongside of it, as
Fig. 53, the representation of one, also from Robenhausen, which was sent to
the Berlin Fishery Exhibition in 1880.* It shows the character of these objects
much better than Fig. 52.

“These implements, which are not at all uncommon at Robenhausen, are of
peculiar interest; at first they were considered as implements used for the
churning or manufacturing of butter, but M. Rochat Maure, the engineer of
Geneva, in the following notice, has clearly shown that they are to be considered
as fishing-implements :—

‘The fishermen who at the present day use implements of this kind live,
while the fish are going up, on the banks of the river Arve, well known for its
cold and rushing stream. They pass the night almost like savages, under huts
made of twigs, and their small subsistence is extremely precarious. They catch
the fish in the following manner :—To one end of a cord, the length of a stone’s
throw, they fasten a roundish flat stone, and to the other end a heavier stone of
any convenient form. To this main cord they tie at intervals thinner strings
with hooks at the end, and from three to five feet long. The heavy stone
is then let down into the water from the boat at the side of the bank, but
the other stone is thrown as far as possible straight across the stream towards
the opposite bank. Early in the morning these cords are drawn up and
examined, the implement used for this purpose being exactly like those found at
Robenhausen. It is in fact the top of a young fir-tree with the branches
springing from the main stem like radii. A cord is fastened to the upper end
of this kind of hook, and in order to make it sink, some leaden rings or hooks
are fastened to the main stem: it goes by the name of arpion amongst the
fishermen. It is thrown into the water from the boat, and when drawn up,
brings with it the thinner cords which have the hooks at the end. As
the settlers at Robenhausen had no lead, it is possible that the perforated stones
found in that settlement may have been used to sink these implements. — — —
This implement is of great interest with respect to the history of civilization,
for it proves that implements which have actually derived their origin from the
highest antiquity are at the present moment used in precisely the same manner.”}

Fig. 54 represents the arpion, which measures about eight inches in length.

Nearly related to this simple applance in form and function, though more
complicated and entirely made of iron, is the ‘“‘devil’s claw grapnel” (Hig. 55),
used by New England fishermen to recover fishing-lines from the bottom of the

* Amtliche Berichte; p. 130, Fig. 96.
+ Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. I, p. 53.
{ Ibid. ; Vol. I, p. 54.

52 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

sea, When the buoys marking the position of the set lines or trawls have been
lost or submerged by the action of violent winds and waves. It is generally
employed on the outer fishing-banks lying off the East Coast of North America,
in depths varying from twenty-five to over one hundred fathoms. The operation
is as follows: one end of a long line—generally six-thread Manilla hemp buoy-
line—is fastened to the long link at the extremity of the apparatus. This done,
the implement is thrown out of the boat, and so much line veered out that the
grapnel will “ hug” the bottom, while the dory is being pulled along. Ordinarily
two men row the boat during this operation of dragging for the lost gear, while
another sits at the stern with his hand on the line, in order to be able to tell
more surely than he otherwise could when the trawl-line is hooked. If the
depth of water exceeds fifty fathoms, it is generally necessary to fasten an
additional weight on the line, two or three fathoms distant from the grapnel, for
the purpose of keeping the latter close to the bottom.*

Fie. 55.— Devil’s claw grapnel.” Massachusetts. (54542).

It has been stated that the lake-people doubtless obtained fish by the method
of spearing—a supposition based upon the discovery of lacustrine barbed dart- -
heads of horn and bone, well suited for that purpose. Some of them may have
been the armatures of hunting-spears, although, as we have seen, the lake-
dwellers were experts in the fabrication of weapon-heads of flint and jasper.

The original of Fig. 56, made of stag-horn, certainly bears the character
of a harpoon-head. This specimen was found at the station of Saint-Aubin,
and belonged to the collection of M. de Mortillet.+

Fig. 57 represents another harpoon-head of deer-horn, likewise found at
Saint-Aubin, and formerly in the possession of Dr. Clement, whose collection
was acquired by the Peabody Museum. It appears that Professor Desor
considers this specimen as a fish-hook, an opinion which I can hardly share.f

* For this information I am indebted to Captain Joseph W. Collins, of the United States Commission of Fish
and Fisheries.

+ The illustration is reproduced from ‘ Reliquize Aquitanice,’’ IT, p. 51, Fig. 11.

+ Desor: Palafittes, or Lacustrian Constructions, in the Lake of Neuchatel; Smithsonian Report for 1865;
p. 857. Fig. 57 is a reproduction of Fig. 11 a on the same page.—I could not identify this specimen among the
Swiss harpoon-heads sent to me for examination by the trustees of the Peabody Museum.

HARPOON-HEADS. 53

Mr. Friedel figures a lacustrine object of almost the same shape, which he
designates—correctly, I think—as a harpoon-head. To its shank still adheres
the bituminous substance by which it was fastened into a shaft.* Fig. 58 repre-

SSS

Se
= = =

Fia. 56. Fia. 57. Fia. 58.

Figs. 56-58.—Deer-horn harpoon-heads. Saint-Aubin.

sents a fine deer-horn harpoon-head of kindred character from Saint-Aubin,
which is preserved in the Peabody Museum (No. 5232. C). A smaller one, four
and one-fourth inches in length, derived from the same locality, and likewise in

*Amtliche Berichte; p. 130, Fig. 97.

54 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

the above-named institution, has adhering to its shank a small fragment of the
wooden shaft into which it was inserted.

Fia. 59.—Concise. Fic. 60.—Concise. Fra. 61.—Wauwyl.

Fics. 59-61—Harpoon-heads of bone and deer-horn.

Fig. 59 shows a very carefully worked bone harpoon-head, exhibited at
Berlin in 1880.* The locality from which the specimen was derived is not
named; but the same object, it appears, is figured, with other similar ones, on a
smaller scale, in Dr. Keller’s work,; as well as in that of M. Fréd. Troyon.t
They are there denominated bone arrow-heads, and the Concise settlement in the
Lake of Neuchatel is mentioned as the locality where the specimens were
obtained. These objects are attributed to the stone period, though the lake-
village in question still flourished after the introduction of bronze. The shank
of Fig. 59, it will be seen, is very artistically notched, and if its form is cylin-
drical or rod-like, as the delineation suggests, the notches may have served for
the reception of bitumen by which the head was fastened in a socket-like cavity
at the end of the shaft. There are, indeed, no very strong indications that the

* Amtliche Berichte; p. 128, Fig. 85.
+ Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol, II, Plate CIII, Figs. 16, 17, and 18.

{ Troyon: Habitations Lacustres des Temps Anciens et Modernes ; Lausanne, 1860; Plate VI, Figs. 3, 4, and 5.

HARPOON-HEADS. 55

lake-men used harpoons with detachable heads; but they may nevertheless have
employed them.
v . . ~ ~ © . 7 o7 "a 7 7 a pate - : -

, The armatures thus far described exhibit only a single barb; in Fig. 60 a
series of unilateral barbs is seen. The specimen, made of deer-horn, was
found at Concise.*

Passing over to harpoon-like armatures with bilateral barbs, I give in Fig

61 the representation of a specimen of deer-horn, found at Wauwyl. It shows
three sharply-cut barbs on each side, and appears to be of a flattish form.+

"| ta)
fy fi = (Rae he
Ab halt) NO
BAS

i JR iy

y Dyn 4
of Oa iN}
Pady sth

1
2

Fic. 63.

Fras. 62-64.—Deer-horn harpoon-heads. Lattringen.

Figs. 62, 63, and 64 are delineations of deer-horn harpoon-heads obtained
by Dr. Gross from the Lattringen stone and bronze-age settlement in the Lake
of Bienne. They are all perforated at the lower ends, which terminate abruptly.

* Troyon: Habitations Lacustres ; Plate VI, Fig. 25.

+ Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. II, Plate XX, Fig. 26.

56 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

The original of Fig. 62 is characterized by Dr. Gross as “a large harpoon, nearly
eight and three-fourths inches long; it has eleven barbs, is perforated at the
base, and has been skillfully made out of a fragment of stag’s horn.”* The barbs
are rather blunt. Fig. 63 represents a very fine specimen, thus described by
Dr. Gross in “ Matériaux”: “A large harpoon of deer-horn, twenty-two centi-
meters in length, provided with six very sharp barbs, and perforated at the base
for being fastened to a wooden shaft by means of a peg (cheville).”+ Dr. Gross,
consequently, does not regard these harpoon-heads as detachable armatures.
If the perforations had served for receiving a line they probably would not have
been placed so near the lower end. Tig. 64 shows a shorter harpoon-head of
similar character, with only one barb on each side. A deer-horn: harpoon-head
resembling very much the original of Fig. 64, and nearly of the same length, is
preserved in the Peabody Museum. It was found at Saint-Aubin, and belonged
to the Clement collection.

It may be assumed that one of the methods employed by the lake-people
for obtaining fish was that of shooting them with arrows—barbed points of bone,
horn, and stone, well suited to form the armatures of such arrows, having been
found on the sites of the ancient lake-villages.

Fic. 65.—Saint-Aubin. Fic. 66.—Robenhausen. Fic. 67.—Bodio.

Fics. 65-67.—Arrow-heads of horn and flint.

An arrow-head from Saint-Aubin, consisting of stag-horn, and according
to the illustration, still connected with a portion of the shaft, is represented by
Tig. 65. It has only one barb, and is certainly of a shape suggestive of fish-
shooting. Fig. 66 shows the form of a barbed flint point from Robenhausen,
which might have been used with advantage as the head of an arrow designed

* Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. I, p. 450; Vol. II, Plate XLII, Fig. 1.
+ Gross: Derniéres Trouyailles dans les Habitations Lacustres du Lac de Bienne; Matériaux; Vol. XV,
1880; p. 10. Representations of the two harpoon-heads on Plate II, Figs. 1 and 2.

{ Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. II, Plate XLIITI, Fig. 12.

FISHING-NETS. Ol

for the fish-hunt.* I am uncertain whether Figs. 65 and 66 are drawn in
full or fractional size, no statements indicating the scale being made in the
translation of Dr. Keller’s work.+ In Fig. 67 I present the delineation of a
similar flint arrow-head from the stone and bronze-yielding station near Bodio,
on the Lake of Varese, in Lombardy. In this instance, too, the size is not
mentioned; but it is probably the natural one.t It hardly need be re-
marked that the stone arrow-heads here figured may just as well have
belonged to hunting, or, perhaps, even to war-arrows. I have simply dealt in
probabilities in guardedly assigning to them another use.

SSR

se)

Fic. 68.—Fragment of fishing-net. Robenhausen (?).

There can be no doubt that the lake-dwellers fished with nets. Owing to
peculiar circumstances, known to the reader, many fabrics of flax have been
preserved in the relic-beds, and among these are fragments of nets made exactly
like those used in our time. But even in the absence of these fragments the
occurrence of real net-sinkers would furnish sufficient ground for the assertion.
“Of netted manufacture,” it is said, “the most simple form are the nets, which
vary considerably, both in the strength of the cord and in the size of the meshes,
according to the purposes for which they were designed, and yet they seem all to
have been made in the same manner.”’§ It would be strange, indeed, if primitive
people had employed different methods in making nets, whatever their destination
might have been. There are but two delineations of net-fragments given in Dr.
Keller’s work, one of which is here reproduced as Fig. 68.|| The meshes of this

* Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. II, Plate XIII, Fig. 13.
+ Unfortunately this is too often the case in that publication, and greatly diminishes its scientific value.
{ Keller: Lake-Dwellings; Vol. II, Plate CLXIJ, Fig. 1.
§ Ibid.; Vol. I, p. 510.
|| _Ibid.; Vol. II, Plate CKRXXVI, Fig. 2.
R8

58 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

net, which is made of strong cord, are not quite three-eighths of an inch in width,
and hence it was well suited for fishing-purposes. The other figured fragment
of a net has meshes no less than two inches wide, and is therefore—with good
reason, I believe—designated as a remnant of a hunting-net. The plate from
which Fig. 68 is copied shows designs of flax fabrics from Robenhausen and
Wangen, but the locality where each object was obtained is not specialized, either
on the plate or, as far as I could discover, in the text and the list of illustrations.

Of course, any attempt at speculating on the character of the nets employed
by the lake-dwellers would be fruitless. The few remaining fragments certainly
give us no clue. It is likely that they used the primitive and almost universal
seine-net while fishing near the shore; in deep water they may have followed
other methods. We only know that they used nets, and must be satisfied with
that information.

Net-sinkers are frequently mentioned in the translation of Dr. Keller’s
work, but in many cases not sufficiently described and rarely figured. There are
sometimes doubts expressed whether stone objects of a certain form are to be
considered as sinkers or sling-stones; and the same vagueness prevails with
regard to pierced cones of baked clay, which are thought to have served either
as net-sinkers or as weights in the process of weaving.

Se ee

Fic. 69,—Allensbach. Fia. 70.—Allensbach.

Fia. 71.—Estavayer.

Fras. 69-71.—Stone sinkers.

SINKERS. 59

Before entering upon a description of lacustrine sinkers, I would draw
attention to the fact that only such as are found in settlements of the pure stone
age can with certainty be regarded as neolithic, provided they occur under cir-
cumstances excluding the possibility of later intrusion. Those from stations
pertaining to the ages of stone and bronze may belong to either. It is evident
that the transition from stone to bronze would not have changed the character of
the sinkers. Indeed, net-weights of stone and clay are even at present in use
among uncivilized and civilized peoples.

Allusion was already made to the difficulty, or rather impossibility, of
distinguishing in many instances between sinkers for lines and such as served as
net-weights, Yet European archzeologists mostly refer to net-sinkers only.

I have no doubt that the originals of Figs. 69 and 70* were used as sinkers.
They certainly resemble the commonest North American aboriginal net-weights,
consisting of water-worn flat pebbles notched on opposite sides, the notches being
produced by blows. The originals of Figs. 69 and 70, which are derived from
the stone-age station of Allensbach, on the Untersee (Baden), are described as
“flat, almost unworked rolled stones, from four to five lines thick and from three
and a half to four inches in length, showing no further traces of workmanship
than the hollows or furrows at @ and 6.”’+ It is not even stated whether the
indentations are produced by blows or by grinding, and the designs—here faith-
fully copied—consist of mere outlines, which fail to indicate the precise character
of the specimens.

The original of Fig, 71,{ from the stone and bronze-age station near
Estavayer, on the Lake of Neuchatel, is mentioned as one of the stones com-
monly called “sling-stones.”§ Yet there are undoubted North American sink-
stones of exactly the same form; and quite similar ones found in Europe, apart
from lake-dwellings, are pronounced sinkers by competent archzeologists, as will
be shown in the sequel. I would unhesitatingly ascribe that character to the
figured specimen.

A few stone dises or dise-like pebbles, with a central perforation, which may
have served as net-sinkers, are figured in Keller’s ‘“ Lake Dwellings;” but
instead of copying any of his illustrations, I give in Figs. 72 and 73, on the fol-
lowing page, designs of originals in the Peabody Museum, at Cambridge. Fig.
72 is an irregular flat disc of gray sandstone, half an inch in thickness, and
exhibiting a rough surface, which latter circumstance renders it difficult to decide
whether the stone has been artificially modified or not. The hole in the middle

* Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. II, Plate XXIV, Figs. 1 and 4.
+ Ibid.; Vol. I, p. 99.

t Ibid.; Vol. II, Plate XCVII, Fig. 12.

§ Ibid. ; Vol. I, p. 265.

60 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

is drilled from both sides. This specimen (No. 4991. A) was obtained at the
Saint-Aubin station. The original of Fig. 73 (No. 4991. B) is a somewhat flat-

Fie. 73.

Fies. 72 and 73.—Stone sinkers(?). Saint-Aubin.

tish oval pebble of compact gray sandstone (molasse), with a central perforation

sunk from both sides, and of bi-conical form. It was likewise found at Saint-Aubin.

[oe

Fig. 74.—Saint-Aubin. Fig. 75.—Nidau-Steinberg. Fic. 76.—Inkwyl.

Fics. 74-76.—Sinkers (?) of stone and clay.

There are in the Peabody Museum smaller pebbles, perforated, but not in the
centre, which are almost too light to have served as net-sinkers, but which may
have been used in connection with fishing-lines, if they were not designed for other
purposes. One of them (No. 4991.G), found at Saint-Aubin, is here represen-
ted as Fig. 74. It is a small water-worn stone of pale-gray color and calcareous
character, pierced with a straight cylindrical hole.

In Fig. 75 I represent one of the clay cones to which reference was made.*

* Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. II, Plate XX XVIII, Fig. 16.

SINKERS. 61

It belongs to the large series of objects derived from the important Nidau-
Steinberg settlement in the Lake of Bienne. « Many objects of stone, bone, and
pottery which have been obtained there, and which mark the commencement of
the civilization of man in our districts, show that it was a settlement in the
earliest period; but its existence was prolonged up to the time when bronze was
commonly employed for implements; nay, it even outlasted this period, and
reached that when iron came into use.” The clay cones are thus described :—
“The things which commonly go by these names—sink-stones (sic) or weights—
are about four and a half inches high, of a conical form, and are about four or
four and a half in diameter at the base; they were made without any care and
of common clay. The fact that they are perforated towards the point of the cone
and that they were found at a fishing-station, seems to argue for the correctness
of the common designation; but subsequent investigations have proved that
many at least of these clay cones were simply weights used in weaving.”+ This
theory was first advanced by Mr. Paur, a ribbon-manufacturer of Ziirich, who
constructed a weaving-apparatus by which he made the various kinds of linen
cloth found in the lake-settlements. ‘And, as a further proof, he showed from
indubitable evidence that the clay cones are to be considered as constituent parts
of the looms of the lake-dwellings. If further proof were wanting, it may be
given in the fact that in several rooms lately excavated by Mr. Messikommer at
Robenhausen, at least half a dozen of these clay cones were found in each, so
that weaving must have been carried on there to a great extent.”t

This sounds very plausible, but it does not carry conviction with it. Mr.
Paur’s reconstructed loom,§ which, by the way, bears a striking resemblance to
one in the Archzeological Museum at Copenhagen,|| is by no means an absolutely
simple contrivance, but rather complicated when compared with the simple
looms of modern Indians of the West, who produce textile fabrics certainly as
good as those of the Swiss lake-men. The Pima Indians on the Gila River, for
instance, make very creditable and really ornamental tissues, employing a loom
that consists only of a few sticks, which they carry about in a small bundle.¥
The loom of the ancient Mexicans,** was far less complicated than that constructed
by Mr. Paur, and yet the inhabitants wove cotton cloth which excited the
admiration of the Spanish conquerors. A number of such primitive Indian

* Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. I, p. 139.

+ Ibid.; Vol. I, p. 151.

{ Ibid.; Vol. I, p. 514.

§ Ibid.; Vol. I, p. 516, Fig. 40.

|| This medieval loom, obtained from one of the Ferée Islands, is figured in Worsaae’s “‘ Nordiske Oldsager
i det Kongelige Museum i Kjébenhayn;’’ Copenhagen, 1859; p. 159, Fig. 558.

q Emory: Notes of a Military Reconnoissance, ete. ; Washington, 1848; p. 85.

** Represented in the Mendoza Codex.

62 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

looms, with a commenced piece of cloth on them, may be seen in the United
States National Museum. In these looms a stick serves as a warp-stretcher.

In various lacustrine stations have been found rings of baked clay, to which
the character of net-sinkers is now and then attributed. ‘“ These rings,” it is
stated, with reference to those found at Nidau, “are made of clay mixed with
little stones and pieces of charcoal, but they are imperfectly burnt, and very
little care has been bestowed upon them; they vary in external diameter from
three and a half to nine and a half inches; the hole in the middle is from seven
lines to two and a half inches wide, and the thickness of the ring itself varies
from one inch to upwards of two inches. Various opinions have been expressed
as to the use of these rings. The idea that they were net-weights is now aban-
doned. It seems now ascertained that they were used as supports for the vessels
which either had no base at all, or one so small that they would not stand.
There can be no doubt also that they were used in a similar way as supports for
pipkins with a conical base when placed on the hearth. Many of these rings
have become friable from the action of violent heat, but it is not always
certain whether this happened on the hearth or when the settlement was burnt
down.”* ‘The view that these rings served as supports for vessels seems to me
correct, and they belong, as far as I can judge, more properly to the era of
lacustrine life when bronze was in use, and during which many vessels with
convex or even conical bottoms were made. I have one of these clay rings,
which was sent to me, with many other lacustrine relics, by the late Professor
Desor. The specimen in question, obtained at Auvernier, Lake of Neuchatel,
is rather carelessly made, and answers well the description just given. Even
the little stones and pieces of charcoal are not wanting. The ring is not quite
four inches in diameter, and the central hole is a little more than an inch and a
half wide. It shows no wear indicative of use as a net-sinker, but distinet
traces of exposure to fire. On the accompanying label is written by Professor
Desor: Bronzezeit. Ring von gebrannter Erde zum Aufstellen der Vasen.

Yet some of the clay rings actually seem to have been used as net or line-
sinkers, as, for instance, the original of Fig. 76 on page 60, which was found in the
stone-age settlement of the Lake of Inkwyl.; ‘This specimen has the furrow
still remaining which was worn by the cord. It seems now clear that these smaller
rings were net-weights, while most of the larger ones were supports for the
conical-footed earthenware vessels.”’{ The size of the specimen is not mentioned.
It is probably double the size of the figure.

According to Mr. E. Frank, net-sinkers consisting of pieces of pottery with

* Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. I, p. 150.
+ Ibid. ; Vol. II, Plate XX XIX, Fig. 2.
j Ibid. ; Vol. 1, p. 445.

FLOATS. 63

incisions or notches on opposite sides have occurred in large number at the
lacustrine settlement of Schussenried, in the basin of the Feder-See, in Wiirtem-
berg.* This station, which belongs to the stone age, was particularly rich in
pottery. There are in the United States National Museum some Central-
American net-sinkers of the same kind, to which reference will be made in
the appendix to this work.

Fra. 77.—Robenhausen. Fic. 78.—Wangen.

Fies. 77 and 78.—Bark float and wooden implement for arranging nets.

It was stated on a preceding page that a few of the lacustrine bark floats in
the Peabody Museum appear to be of sufficient size to have been used for
buoying nets. Fig. 77 (No. 3238) represents one of them, which was found in the
Robenhausen lake-settlement. It is of rectangular shape and provided with a
rude perforation. The lake-men, for aught we know, may have used for their nets
floats of wood—a material: still frequently employed for the same purpose. Yet
in the translation of Keller’s work, bark is always mentioned as the material of
which they are made.

A wooden implement from Wangen, represented in Fig. 78,+ is described
in a satisfactory manner as “a fishing-implement made of the branch of a shrub
and its offshoot, and intended for drawing together and arranging the nets when
dried. Exactly similar implements are now in use amongst fishermen.”{ Iam
unable to say whether several of these utensils have been preserved; but the
recovery of even a single one appears of interest, in so far as it demonstrates

* Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. I, p. 583.
7 Ibid.; Vol. II, Plate XXII, Fig. 6.
ip lbides Viole leupenvile

64 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

that the ancient fishermen applied such simple contrivances tending to facilitate
their work.

It cannot now be decided whether the lake-men made their nets “on a
frame by knotting the string at each point of intersection,” as M. Figuier
conjectures, or employed netting-needles. The latter are repeatedly alluded to
in the work from which I derive the principal facts bearing upon prehistoric
fishing in the Swiss and other lakes. But the notices relating to these implements
are vague and not calculated to throw any light on the method of net-making.
Among the antiquities found at the stone-age station near Nussdorf, on the
Ueberlinger See, the northwestern branch of the Lake of Constance (Baden), are
mentioned “netting, hair, or clothes pins, made out of boars’ tusks, and conse-
quently curved ; they have a sharp point, and are sometimes notched at one end,
probably caused by the use to which they were applied. The pins for making
fishing-nets were made out of the corner tooth of a bear and perforated.”+ I
reproduce in Figs. 79, 80, and 81 the representations serving to illustrate the
above descriptions.~ Figs. 79 and 80 certainly bear no resemblance to any
netting-implements with which I am acquainted; and as for the pierced bear’s
tooth (Fig. 81), there is no statement made in support of the view that it served
as a pin for making fishing-nets. It differs in no way from the pierced teeth
worn as trophies or charms by the prehistoric Europeans as well.as by still
existing savage tribes. Pointed ribs found at some lacustrine stations have
been regarded as netting-implements ; but it is not at all certain that they were
thus employed.

it
2

Fic. 79. Fic. 80.

Fires. 79-81.—Implements made of boars’ tusks, and perforated bear’s tooth. Nussdorf.

* Figuier: Primitive Man; p. 136.
+ Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. I, p. 119.
{ Ibid. ; Vol. I1, Plate XXVIII, Figs. 16, 17, and 15, respectively.

NETTING-NEEDLES 65

In order to show the appearance of netting-needles at present used in North
America, both by the civilized and uncivilized, I insert here representations of
such implements.

Fia. 82.—New England, (25593).

Fia. 84.—Eskimos, Chirikoff Island, Alaska, (16296).

Frias. 82-85.—Modern netting-implements.

Fig. 82 illustrates the shape of the ordinary wooden netting-needle still in
use among fishermen in New England, although nets are now to a great extent
manufactured there by machinery. Fig. 83 represents a netting-implement of
bone, derived from the Magemut Eskimos in Nunivak Island, Alaska. A
similar wooden implement used by the Eskimos of Chirikoff Island, Alaska, is
represented in Fig. 84; and in Fig. 85, lastly, I show the form of the simple
tool employed for netting by the McCloud River Indians in California. It
consists of two slightly curved and pointed sticks, bound together with vegetable
fibre. Sometimes they use a stick bifurcated at both ends.

66 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

Boats.—Lacustrine life would hardly have been possible without the means
of locomotion on the water, and hence we may assume that there was no lack of
boats among the lake-men. Many boats, indeed, have been found imbedded in
the mud on or near the sites of former lake-settlements. Excepting a few, these
ancient boats are made of a single tree, and hollowed out by means of stone or
metallic implements, according to the period in which they originated. In times
anteceding the introduction of bronze, fire doubtless was an efficient aid in the
manufacture of these boats. Such primitive vessels, corresponding to the dug-
outs in this country, are still in use on some of the Swiss lakes, as, for instance,
on those of Lucerne, Zug, and Aegeri, in the Canton of Zug, in which district
they are manufactured to the present day. A boat of this description is called
Einbaum (one-tree) in Switzerland.

1
2F

Fic. 86.—Boat. Robenhausen.

An ancient boat, found at Robenhausen by Mr. Messikommer, and, I
believe, still in existence—notwithstanding the difficulty of preserving such
objects when out of the water—is represented in Fig. 86.* It is twelve feet
long, two feet and a half wide, and five inches deep.+ I find no statement
concerning the kind of wood of which it is made. The illustration (upper view,
side-view, and cross-section) renders any further description unnecessary. As
Robenhausen is a station of the stone age, this boat can with safety be attributed
to that period.

Professor Desor speaks of a number of such pirogues in the Lake of Bienne,
one of which can be seen near Saint Peter’s Island (Lie de Saint-Pierre), projec-
ting from the mud of the lake, and still holding the cargo of stones with which

* Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. 11, Plate X, Fig. 8.
+ Ibid.; Vol. I, p. 53.

BOATS. 67

it had foundered.* It is made of the trunk of an oak, scarcely less than fifty
feet long, by three and a half to four feet in width.; ‘According to M. Desor,”
says M. de Mortillet, “the lake-dwellers of the stone age, in order to consolidate
the piles designed to support their habitations, wedged them up (les calaient)
with stones which they gathered in boats on the shore, the bottom of the lake
being totally free of them. The pirogue of Saint Peter’s Island, therefore,
would appear to be a vessel sunk with its load of stones at a date reaching as
far back as the epoch of polished stone.’’{ As it is well known that maritime
tribes have hollowed out very large canoes without metallic tools, M. de Mor-
tillet’s view may be correct; but it is equally possible that the boat in question
belongs to a later time.

Fic. 87.—Boat. Moéringen.

Fig. 87 illustrates the form of one of several dug-outs found at the station
of Moringen, Lake of Bienne.§ It certainly has a very primitive appearance,
and may belong to the stone age; but, considering that the Moringen set-
tlement has furnished objects of stone, bronze, and iron, it 1s impossible to
assign to it a definite place in lacustrine chronology. Strangely enough, the
dimensions of this boat are not indicated in the translation of Dr. Keller’s
reports, and I would not even know that it consists of oak-wood, if the fact were
not mentioned in M. Troyon’s “ Habitations Lacustres”’ (page 165).

Mention is made, and a figure given, of a toy-boat of fir-wood, nine inches
long and one and a half wide, found at the settlement of Gerolfingen (Gérofin),
in the Lake of Bienne, and characterized as ‘‘ merely a reproduction of the
lacustrine canoes of the stone period.” || But having been found associated with
objects of metal, its antiquity is uncertain.

I am not aware that any contrivances for propelling boats (paddles, ete.)
have been discovered among the lacustrine remains of Switzerland or other
countries. An anchor-stone from Nidau is described and figured in Lee’s trans-
lation. Its origin,*however, is of comparatively recent date, and therefore

* Desor: Palafittes; p. 353.

+ Troyon: Habitations Lacustres; p. 166.

t De Mortillet: Origine de la Navigation et de la Péche; Matériaux, Vol. III, 1867; p. 47.
§ Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. II, Plate XL, Fig. 4.

|| Ibid. ; Vol. I, p. 452.

68 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

beyond the compass of my present observations. According to Professor Gas-
taldi, a wooden anchor came to ght in the peat-covered small pile-work at
Mercurago, near Arona, on Lago Maggiore. This station, from the objects
there found, is supposed to pertain to the time when bronze began to take the
place of stone. The wooden anchor was more than a meter in length, terminated
at one end in two hooks, and was perforated at the other, to receive the rope.*
No further description, or figure, is given, and it remains doubtful to what period
the object belongs.

I shall have to refer to lacustrine boats again, when treating of fishing
during the bronze period.

The abstracts of reports on lake-settlements in Austria, Bavaria, etc.,
contained in the translation of Dr. Keller’s work have furnished no additional
details bearing upon fishing in the neolithic age. Unfortunately, the original
treatises are not at my command.

FISHING-IMPLEMENTS AND UTENSILS NOT FOUND IN LACUSTRINE
SETTLEMENTS.

General Remarks.—The above title sufficiently explains the purport of this
section, in which a limited number of objects will be described. It appears to
me that not many isolated fishing-implements have been discovered in Europe ;
for, if they were frequent, more would be said concerning them in archzeological
works. Yet, not a few may be in existence of which I have no knowledge, not-
withstanding my endeavors to follow the progress of prehistoric archzeology in
Europe as closely as distance and other adverse circumstances permit. In the
main, however, I believe my observation regarding the comparative scarcity of
neolithic antiquities bearing upon fishing to be correct. I will mention an
example in point. In August, 1880, there was in the city of Berlin an exhibition
of archeological finds (unde) made in Germany, to which nearly all public and
private collections of the empire had contributed their shares, and it doubtless
represented not only all types of German prehistoric antiquities, but also their
numerical proportion. The exhibited objects are enumerated in a printed cata-
logue of 619 octavo pages, to which a supplement of 128 pages is added. In
examining the catalogue, I was struck with the scarcity of fishing-objects men-
tioned in it, there being specified only a number of flints pointed at both ends
and supposed to have been used like fish-hooks, two bone fish-hooks, one bone
harpoon-head, two bone darts (Lischstecher)—one with inserted splinters of flint—

* Gastaldi: Lake Habitations and Prehistoric Remains in the Turbaries and Marl-Beds of Northern and
Central Italy; translated by C. H. Chambers; London, 1865; p. 102.

DOUBLE-POINTED FLINT IMPLEMENTS. 69

and seventeen net-weights, some of them marked doubtful. A number of these
sinkers may not belong to neolithic, but to later, times. There are further
enumerated, [I will add, a fish-hook of bronze, one of iron, and two or three other
objects.* It will be admitted that these few articles formed but an insignificant
fraction of the many thousands of antiquities exhibited at Berlin.

I will now proceed to describe the fishing-implements referred to at the
beginning of this section, classifying them according to the use to which they
were applied.

Double-pointed straight Bait-holders—Reference has been made on preceding
pages to bone rods tapering toward both ends, which were, and still are, used in
lieu of fish-hooks. It appears that in neolithic times such simple implements
for catching fish were made of flint. I never have seen any of them, and there-
fore have to rely on the statements of others. Mr. Friedel alludes to one in the
Fishery Department of the Berlin Provincial Museum, of which he is in charge.
He says :—“ Upon these stone spindles, chipped to a point at each end, and attached
in the middle to a line, the bait was fastened, in order to be swallowed entire by
the fish intended to be caught.’ The specimen in question was found on an
island in the river Havel, near Berlin. Several, obtained from the Island of
Rugen, in the Baltic Sea, were exhibited by Mr. Rosenberg at Berlin in 1880.
He considers them well suited for catching pike.t Mr. Rosenberg speaks of
another class of flint implements from Riigen, which present a peculiar form, and
served, as he thinks, in the construction of fish-hooks.§ I shall revert to them
hereafter, when treating of a peculiar class of fish-hooks from Greenland.

Fish-hooks.—Two entire fish-hooks of flint, preserved in the Museum of
Lund, Sweden, are described and figured by Professor Sven Nilsson. I repro-
duce on the next page his designs as Figs. 88 and 89.|| The Swedish arche-
ologist gives the following account of the specimens :—

“The first of these (here Fig. 88) was found near Lomma, on the shore of
the Sound (Oresund). It is in length, from the middle of the end of the shaft
to the bend of the hook, about one inch and five lines, and in breadth, from the

* Among fish-remains are mentioned those of the pike from a pile-work on the Roseninsel (Island of Roses)
in Lake Starnberg, Bavaria, and of the Weds (Silurus glanis, of the cat-fish family) and pike from Schussenried, in
Wiurtemberg.

+ Friedel: Fthrer durch die Fischerei-Abtheilung des Markischen Provinzial-Museums der Stadtgemeinde
Berlin; Berlin, 1880; p. 1.

{ Such implements of stone, bone, or bronze are called Spitzangeln in German,

§ (Voss): Katalog der Ausstellung priahistorischer und anthropologischer Funde Deutschlands — — — zu
Berlin (August, 1880); Berlin, 1880; p. 364.

|| Nilsson: The Primitive Inhabitants of Scandinavia; translated by Sir John Lubbock; London, 1868:
Plate II, Figs. 28 and 29.—Fig. 29 is also to be found in Worsaae’s “‘ Danmarks Oldtid oplyst ved Oldsager og

Gravhdie ;”’? Copenhagen, 1843; p. 16.

70 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

outside of the shaft to the outside of the hook, about one inch and four lines.
At the top it is thick and broken off straight, and below the thick end there is
a searcely noticeable incision, or neck, round which to tie the line. It tapers
downwards to the point, and has been chipped on both sides towards the front and
back ; it has, therefore, as we see, been fashioned with some skill to answer its
purpose.

‘Nobody who has seen the fish-hooks of bone, wood, or shell, made by
savages, can entertain the least doubt that this one has been used for the same
purpose. It is even possible to say with tolerable accuracy, judging from its
size and the place where it was found, what description of fish was principally
caught with it. Amongst the fish indigenous to the Sound (Oresund), on the
shore of which it was picked up, it would have been too large for the mouth of
eels, flounders, or whiting, but it is suitable in every way for the Oresund cod-
fish (Gadus callarias, Lin.), and this species of fish is still caught by hooks, here
and elsewhere. There is little doubt, therefore, that the said flint fish-hook was
used in ancient times for cod-fishing in the Sound. The other fish-hook of flint
(here Fig. 89) was found on the bank of the Kranke Lake, near Silfakra. It is
smaller, the length scarcely exceeding one inch and one line, and the breadth,
from the outside of the shaft to the outside of the hook, not quite six lines. It
has likewise been chipped in front and back, and the shaft widens at the top to
allow the line to be tied to it. It has been used for catching smaller fish than
the former. The Kranke Lake is still stocked with perch and eel, and an
experienced angler has assured me that one would still be able to catch these
kinds of fish with this very hook.’*

a
2 4 4
Fia. 88.—Oresund. Fia. 89.—Kranke Lake. Fig. 90.—Scandinavia. (5275).

Fics. 88-90.—Flint fish-hooks.

Mr. John Evans makes the following statement with regard to flint fish-
hooks :—“ Fish-hooks formed entirely of flint, and found in Sweden, have been
engraved by Nilsson, and others, presumed to have been found in Holderness,

* Nilsson: Primitive Inhabitants; p. 22, ete.

FISH-HOOKS. 71

by Mr. T. Wright, F.S. A. The latter are, however, in all probability, for-
geries.’”*

I introduce on the preceding page (not without some misgivings) Fig. 90, rep-
resenting a chipped flint hook found either in Sweden or Norway, and presented to
the National Museum by Professor Jillson, a gentleman of Scandinavian national-
ity. The hook is two inches and one-eighth long, and made of a flattish flake, on
an average about one-eighth of an inch in thickness, the somewhat rude chipping
being confined to the outline. The point terminates rather sharply. No doubt
can be entertained as to the genuineness of the relic, its appearance betokening
great antiquity. Of course, it remains undecided whether this hook was designed
for catching fish or for some other purpose, though experts in angling have
admitted the bare possibility that it may have been a fish-hook. The width of
the shank and of the curved portion, however, lessen its fitness for that purpose.

Be (6
2 3 + (?)
Fie. 91.—Seania. Fic. 92.—Pomerania. Fic. 93.—Norway.

Fies. 91-93.—Fish-hooks of bone and reindeer-horn.

Professor Nilsson gives the description and figure of a fine barbed bone
fish-hook (here Fig. 91) which possibly belongs to the neolithic age.t “It has
been found,” he says, “in one of the old peat-bogs in the South of Scania. It
is three inches long, and about six-eighths of an inch from the point of the
barb to the bar. The bar and the bend are nearly round, and flattened a little

* Evans: Ancient Stone Implements; p. 265.

+ The lacustrine fish-hooks of bone, etc., it will be remembered, are unbarbed

72 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

towards the top, which is broad, for the purpose of fastening the line. It was
found in a bog containing fresh water, and has no doubt been used for catching
pike, of which enormously large skeletons have been found in the bogs of Scania.
I know no other fresh-water fish in Scania for which such a large-sized hook
could have been used.’*

A bone fish-hook of more primitive appearance, preserved in the collection
of the Society for Pomeranian History and Archzeology, at Stettin, is represented
on the preceding page in Fig. 92. This specimen was found imbedded in marl,
fourteen feet below the surface, near Reddies, District of Rummelsburg, Pom-
erania. It is figured and described by Mr. Christensen.

Fig. 93, on the same page, is copied from “ Matériaux.” It shows the form
of a fish-hook of reindeer-horn, preserved in the Museum of Christiania, Norway,
and taken from a grave in the Norwegian part of Lapland. These graves, situated
on the Island of Kjelinée, in the Waranger Fjord, close to the Russian frontier, con-
tained corpses wrapped in bands of willow-bark. With them, or scattered over the
surface of the soil, were found pottery, reminding one of that of the dolmens, pieces
of asbestus (use unknown), and a large number of objects made of reindeer-bone,
such as combs, arrow and lance-heads, fish-hooks, spoons, ete. The age to which
these antiquities belong has not yet been established.{ Though, in all probabil-
ity, they are post-neolithic, I did not deem it amiss to give a figure of that
curiously-shaped fish-hook. The representation presumably shows the object in
natural size.

Harpoon-heads.—Several ancient harpoon-heads of bone are described by
Professor Nilsson in his work on the primitive inhabitants of Scandinavia.§

* Nilsson: Primitive Inhabitants; p. 24.
+ Christensen: Zur Geschichte des Angelhakens ; Deutsche Fischerei-Zeitung ; Stettin, March 22, 1881; p. 95.

{ Cazalis de Fondouce: Compte-rendu du Congrés International d’Archéologie et d’ Anthropologie Préhisto-
riques de Copenhague; 2° Partie; Matériaux; Vol. VI, 1870; p. 221; figure on the same page.

§ It should be stated that some of the bone darts to be described may be of post-neolithic origin. In Sweden,
for instance, bone-headed javelins were still used at a time when bronze was known. Professor Nilsson furnishes

the following proof :—

‘‘ When, about thirty years ago, a level piece of ground near the village of Tygelsjé, in the South of Scania,
was to be cultivated, there were found, close under the surface of the earth, a number of skeletons of human
beings, who had been interred there, and round each skeleton was a row of stones forming an elongated square
seven feet by three. This manner of interring the dead occurs only amongst those nations who used weapons of
bronze, and probably only amongst the poor, never amongst people who used only stone weapons. As a further
proof that these skeletons belonged to a tribe which, when settling in the South of Sweden, were in possession of
bronze, I may mention that one of the skeletons, probably that of a woman, had round one of the arm-bones a
spiral ring made of semi-circular bronze wire, such as was worn by the people of the bronze age.

“The skull of one of the skeletons was pierced with a javelin of bone, made from the point of the antler of
an ell, which, when it came into my hands, was mutilated, but, when found, had been quite perfect ; about seven
inches long, round, having the smaller end pointed, the thicker cut off straight, and about an inch in diameter.’?—

Primitive Inhabitants; p. 171.

HARPOON-HEADS. ies

“The harpoon,” he says, “is a common fishing and hunting-implement among
those savages who inhabit islands and the sea-coast. It can be used only in the
water, where it is thrown in order to fasten in the animal which is to be caught.
Its purpose is not to kill the prey, but to check its career in the water, so that
it may be more easily approached and killed with another weapon—the spear.*

Colm
Colt

Fic. 94.—Scania. Fig. 95.—Scania. Fic. 96.—Scania. Fic. 97.—Seeland.

Fras. 94-97.—Bone harpoon-heads.

‘‘Harpoons of bone, sharp-pointed, with barbs on one side, are occasionally
found in our ancient peat-bogs in Scania. Such a one is seen on Plate IV, Fig.
71 (here Fig. 94). This harpoon-point appears, like those from Greenland, to
have been fastened to its long shaft in such a manner as to be disengaged there-
from when it stuck fast in the harpooned animal, because above the point of
attachment is a projection over which the strap or line seems to have been tied.
It was found in Scania, in a bog near the sea-coast. It may have been used for
hunting seals or small whales or other similar animals. Meanwhile, it is very
remarkable that amongst the objects which Messrs. Christy and Lartet have
found in the caves of Périgord, and which may be considered as being among

* Nilsson: Primitive Inhabitants; p. 26.

R 10

74 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

the most ancient traces of man in Europe, are harpoons of bone, which seem to
have been helved in the same manner.’”*

The Swedish archzeologist figures another bone harpoon-head, here Fig. 95,
on the preceding page, found in a Scanian bog, and ‘‘ showing traces of having been
helved in a somewhat different manner, namely, by the point of bone being fas-
tened to the handle.’’+

Alongside of it he represents a somewhat similar harpoon-head from Tierra
del Fuego, many of which, he says, are in the British Museum, labeled Heads of
Fishing-spears used by the Natives of Tierra del Fuego. In addition, he represents
two harpoon-heads of bone, Figs. 96 and 97 on page 73, which were likewise
found in bogs, the original of Fig. 96 in the South of Scania, that of Fig. 97 in
Seeland.{ The type shown by Fig. 96 will be considered hereafter.

Ne
st

Fic. 98.—Aretic America. Fig. 99.—Seania.

Fias. 98 and 99.—Fish or bird-spear-heads of bone.

* Nilsson: Primitive Inhabitants; p. 29.
+ Ibid.; p. 30, Plate IV, Fig. 69.
{ Ibid.; p. 30, Plate LV, Figs 73 and 74.

HARPOON-HEADS. 75

Professor Nilsson represents in his work what he ealls a leister, or fish-spear,
from the Northwest Coast of America. He sketched this implement in 1836 in
the Museum at Bristol. He also gives illustrations of another similar imple-
ment, obtained north of Hudson’s Bay, and preserved in the Ethnological
Museum at Copenhagen.* I reproduce as Fig. 98 his design of the upper part
of the last-named implement. His other figure shows the whole object on a
smaller scale. The implements are thus described by him :—

“On the top of along pole are fastened two tolerably long sharp-pointed
bones, the points bent a little outwards and the inner side provided with teeth
pointing backwards, to hold the fish securely when struck. These bones are
fastened to the shaft in such a manner that each, independently of the other, is
in some way movable inwards and outwards; their sides are therefore flat at
the other end, and the inner edge provided with one or more teeth, pointing
forwards, in order to be tied fast, so that they cannot be torn away by the fish ;
and, in order to prevent their being bent too much apart, they are tied together
by means of a strap at a short distance from the handle.”+

Speaking of the dart here represented (Fig. 98), he says :—

‘“Tts entire length is thirty-eight inches, of which the wooden shaft measures
thirty-one inches and three-fourths; the bone points, in all eleven inches long,
are, to a length of five inches, fastened to the shaft, and consequently protrude
six inches beyond it. The shaft is round, about half an inch in diameter, some-
what compressed in front of the lower end, the end itself cut off diagonally with
an incised broad round notch, showing that a thick bow-string has been resting
thereon ; at the end three feathers are fastened lengthwise. It appears, however,
that this implement was made rather for shooting birds on the wing than for
spearing fish in the water.

“ But be this how it may, it is nevertheless very remarkable that the half
of an implement, evidently similar to this last-mentioned one, has been found in
the peat-bog of Felsmosse, about three English miles from Lund, in the province
of Scania. I have sketched this on Plate IV, Fig. 79 (ig. 99, opposite page).
This bone dart is seven inches long, round, and compressed; the back a little
thicker, pointed towards the top end, round, and bent outwards a little;
the inner side somewhat compressed, with five broad incisions forming teeth,
bent backwards; the lower end broader and also compressed, the inner edge
provided with oblique notches forming teeth, pointing forwards, which thus
prevent the dart from being drawn forward. But what still more shows the

* Nilsson: Primitive Inhabitants; Plate LV, Figs. 75, 77, and 78.
7 Ibid.; p. 33.
{ Ibid. ; p. 34.

76 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

perfect likeness between the North American and the Scanian instrument is,
that if we carefully examine the latter, we shall find it scratched transversely in
two places, the one at the place where the strings on the American one attach
the points to the shaft, and the other a little way higher up, where the shaft ends
in the American implement, and where the points are tied round; the Scanian
dart is in other respects entirely even and smooth.

aw pds a.
2 1 2
Fie. 100.—Fiinen. Fic. 101.—Seeland. Fia. 102.—Tierra del Fuego, (5724).

Fras. 100-102.—Bone harpoon-heads.

“Thus we see that the Scanian implement was constructed exactly in the
same manner as the American, and it is difficult for us to understand how

HARPOON-HEADS. Wha

implements so complicated could have been constructed so completely alike by
the Eskimos of the present day, living in the most northern part of North
America, and by the aborigines in the most southern part of Scandinavia,
between which two races, so very dissimilar in origin, and so widely separated
as to locality, we cannot suppose any relationship to have existed. That imple-
ments so simple in construction as the flint arrow should be alike in most
countries, even in Scania and Tierra del Fuego, can be explained by a kind of
instinct in man, as man, everywhere, as long as he stands at the very lowest
point of civilization; but the perfect similarity between implements so compli-
cated as those now in question, I look upon as one of the great, still unsolved,
enigmas of ethnological science.’*

I must confess that the case does not appear to me as having such an extra-
ordinary bearing. As soon as man, in any part of the world, had conceived
and carried out the idea of constructing a dart with two or three prongs for
fishing or hunting purposes (a plan very simple in itself), a short practice would
have taught him the desirability of rendering the prongs movable to a certain
extent, and hence he would naturally have been led to fasten the ligatures in a
way to bring about the change for the better. Professor Nilsson’s discovery,
however, is very interesting.

I find on Plate 40 of Captain A. P. Madsen’s beautifully illustrated work
“Antiquités Préhistoriques du Danemark. L’Age de la Pierre” (Copenhagen,
1873) representations of three bone harpoon-heads (Figs. 6, 7, and 8), each of
them showing a different type. One of these darts (Fig. 6, not reproduced),
which measures a trifle less than ten inches, was found in a bog in Jutland. I:
shows two broken unilateral barbs, the first forming the downward continuation of
the point, the second projecting two inches below the first. Another (Fig. 7), of
which Fig. 100 on the opposite page is a reduced copy, shows much more elaborate
workmanship. It was found near Odense, in the Island of Fiinen. The third
(Fig. 8), of which Fig. 101 on the opposite page is a copy, was extracted from a
bog in the District of Frederiksborg, Seeland. It closely resembles in shape Fig.
96, copied from Professor Nilsson’s work. Javelins with bone armatures of this
shape, but larger, are still in use among the poor inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego.
Fig. 102 represents one of a number obtained during the United States Exploring
Expedition under Lieutenant Wilkes, and now in the United States National
Museum. The longest of these dart-heads, which exhibit very creditable work-
manship, measures nearly sixteen inches.

Not long ago Count Jan Zawisza, of Warsaw, was kind enough to send me
No. IV of a Polish publication entitled ‘“‘ Wiadomosci Archeologiczne”’+ (War-

* Nilsson: Primitive Inhabitants; p. 34, etc.

f Archeological News.

78 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

saw, 1882), to which number Prince J. T. Lubomirski has contributed an
interesting article relating to the discovery of fishing-spear-heads on the banks
of the UsSwiata River. The article, for a translation of which I am indebted to
Mr. Louis Solyom, of the Library of Congress, is illustrated with two repre-
sentations of harpoon-heads, of which Figs. 103 and 104 on the opposite page
are copies. It follows here in full :-—

“Tt is now generally known that prehistoric man selected the vicinity of
water for his place of abode. Water being one of the necessaries of life, and
the art of well-digging probably unknown, this choice followed as a natural
consequence. Nor do those miss the truth who assert that it was done with a
view to facilitate locomotion, the communication across large tracts of land being
then much impeded by swamps and virgin forests. Fishing, also, furnishing
palatable and healthy food, was another inducement to select such situations,
and that fish was duly appreciated as an article of diet is sufficiently proved by
the fish-remains discovered in places inhabited by prehistoric man.

“But who can explain their mode of fishing? Were fishing-nets known
and used? It is often asserted that the discs of burned clay which are frequently
found served as weights for nets. Yet net-fishing was probably not the first
method resorted to by primitive man. Those who have observed how fish are
caught during spring, when they enter shallow waters to deposit their spawn,
probably will accept the conclusion that spearing, which is considered a barbar-
ous mode at present, though still practised, was probably the first attempt at
fishing made by prehistoric man. It was during the pairing-season of fish, in
shallow waters, that he had the first opportunity for observing them closely, and
the first chance to get possession of them, until he discovered that they could be
caught all the year round in lakes and rivers. In winter, for instance, they
could be captured by means of baskets let down through openings cut in the ice,
the fish crowding near these apertures, impelled by the necessity of breathing
fresh air. According to Herodotus, this method was practised by the people
who occupied pile-dwellings in Lake Prasias.

‘“‘ Nevertheless, it is most probable that the first fishing-implement was a
spear similar to that used at the present time, and hence spear-heads are found
in all prehistoric localities where fish formed an important food-article.

“Madsen has published in his work ‘Antiquités Préhistoriques du Dane-
mark’ designs of spear-heads found in that country (‘Age de la Pierre,’ Plate
40, Figs. 6, 7, and 8), which he calls bone arrow-heads, yet erroneously, con-
sidering that some of them reach a length of fifteen centimeters, a size not only
unnecessary, but even inconvenient for arrow-heads. We therefore incline
without hesitation to the opinion of Oscar Montelius, expressed in the ‘Antiqui-
iés Suédoises’ (Vol. I, p. 14, No. 58), where he gives representations of bone

HARPOON-HEADS. 79

spear-heads, calling them harpoons, and mentioning the fact that they were
found at the bottom of Hastefjorden Lake, among other articles of bone. The
place of discovery of these implements indicates their use.

“They also occur in Russia, as we learn from the work of Count Uwarow,
recently published, and devoted to the prehistoric times of Russia. He describes
there a bone spear-head found near the river Oka.

—>—..

q
celta

Fie. 103. Fia. 104,

Fre. 103 and 104.—Harpoon-heads of ox-horn. Poland.

80 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

‘Heretofore these implements had not been met with among the relies of
the stone age within the limits of ancient Poland. It therefore affords me much
pleasure to announce the discovery of two specimens of the implements under
notice, found in the district of Orszan, on the bank of the small river Uswiata,
which empties into the left shore of the Dniepr. At the time of this discovery
the land drained by the USwiata was the property of the learned Dr. Zeckert,
now deceased.

‘Both heads are made of ox-horn, and very well preserved, though dis-
colored by the action of time. One is almost black, the other yellowish-brown.
Our illustrations show the objects reduced to two-thirds of their actual size.
Length of one, twenty-four centimeters ; of the other, twenty-three centimeters.
They are at present in the collection of antiquities at Mala wies, near Groice.”

ae
1

Fra. 105.—Bone harpoon-head. Victoria Cave.

A bone harpoon-head of peculiar shape, represented in Fig. 105, was dis-
covered in the neolithic stratum of the Victoria Cave, near Settle, Yorkshire,
England. ‘The harpoon,” says Professor W. Boyd Dawkins, “is a little more
than three inches long, with the head armed with two barbs on each side, and
the base presenting a mode of securing attachment to the handle, which has not
before been discovered in Britain. Instead of a mere projection to catch the
ligatures by which it was bound to the shaft, there is a well-cut barb on either
side, pointing in a contrary direction to those which form the head. Ample use
for such an instrument would be found in Malham tarn, some three miles off,
and very probably also in that which formerly existed close by at Attermire,
but which has been choked up by peat, and is now turned into grass-land by
drainage.’”*

Having alluded to the javelins in use as hunting-implements among the
Kurile Islanders and the Greenlanders, Professor Nilsson describes a class of
North European armatures considered by him as javelin-points, giving on Plate
VI of his work several illustrations, of which I reproduce Figs. 124, 125, and
126 as Figs. 106, 107, and 108 on page 82.

* Dawkins: Cave Hunting ; p. 111.

HARPOON-HEADS. 81

‘“We find now and then in our peat-mosses,” he says, “implements which
have evidently been used in the same manner as the javelin from the Kurile
Islands, above described. These implements are of bone, six to ten inches long,
two and one-fourth to two or three lines broad, occasionally round, but generally
rather compressed, tapering to a point towards both ends, and either provided
along both sides with a deeply indented groove, into which thin sharp flakes of
flint are inserted, and fastened by means of black putty resembling pitch, or the
groove with the flint flakes is found only along one side.* The front end is
pointed, and behind, the point is occasionally widened, in shape like a spear-
point, so that the whole bone represents a spear in miniature, with its long shaft ;
the groove holding the flint-splinters does not reach quite to the point. Such is
the implement in its original form, but, by degrees, as it wears out and is again
sharpened to a point, the spear-shaped expansion disappears and the point is
worn down to the grooves. The hinder end is likewise sharp-pointed, and has
evidently been inserted in a wooden shaft. Generally this end is to a certain
distance less smooth than the remainder of the bone, and sometimes the resin,
by means of which it has been cemented in the shaft, remains up to a little
more than an inch. This implement is principally found in bogs in the South
of Scania; also in the province of Bohusland, on Tjérn (west coast of Sweden);
it is said to have been also found in the Island of Oland. In the Museum of
the Academy of Antiquities, in Stockholm, there is a specimen, the longest
which I have seen (ten inches in length), found during the digging of the Gotha
Canal, between Pafvelstorp and Tatorp, in peat-earth, under a bed of clay, and
eight feet under ground. But where there is peat-earth there must have been
water; consequently, everything that is found on, and especially under, peat-
earth, has sunk to the bottom in some water. It is probable, therefore, that the
implements in question, while being used on the water, have dropped therein
and gone to the bottom. In order to form a correct idea of the manner in which
these implements were used by the Scandinavian aborigines, we ought to enquire
how they are employed amongst the nations where they are still in use.

“The Greenlander uses this weapon only on the water, in the pursuit of
aquatic birds. It is provided with a shaft five feet in length, ending at the back
with some ornament, generally a reindeer-foot or something of that kind, and is
thrown by hand at birds while they are resting on the water. It strikes usually
at the distance of from fifty to sixty paces, and Egede relates that the Green-
lander can hit his prey at a tolerably long distance, as surely as a good shot
could do it with a fowling-piece. From his early childhood the Greenlander
begins to practise throwing the bird-javelin. It is thrown by means of a

* These darts remind one by their construction of the Mexican maquahuitl, which the Spaniards called espada, -
or sword.

iz ul

82 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

throwing-stick or board with such force that it flies whizzing through the air,
and with such wonderful skill that it generally pierces the head of the duck.

Fia. 106.~—Scania. Fic. 107.—Scania. Fig. 108.—Scania. Fie, 109.—Prussia.
1
All 3.

Fies. 106-109.—Javelin-heads of bone with inserted flint flakes.

“There is scarcely any doubt that the darts here sketched have been the
same kind of hunting-implements, and that they have been employed in the
same way. That they have been, and were intended to be, thrown by hand, we
can easily see, because they could have been used only on the water; for if
thrown on land, they must infallibly have been broken to pieces and destroyed.
They are, therefore, found only in peat-bogs, which in former times were open
waters, sometimes of considerable extent. They occur not unfrequently in the
South of Sweden. Our museums contain a great number of them; but in Den-
mark they are rare.”*

Professor Nilsson’s statements seem to be correct in every particular; yet
these darts, on account of their jagged sides, were also serviceable as heads of
implements used in the fish-hunt, and for this reason I have given the preceding
extract from Nilsson’s work.

The peat-bogs of Eastern Prussia likewise have yielded a limited number
of these bone-and-flint darts, which are preserved in the collection of northern
antiquities in the New Museum at Berlin. They were described by Mr. Friedel
in an article entitled ‘‘ Ueber Knochenpfeile aus Deutschland,” which appeared
in “Archiv fiir Anthropologie” (Vol. V, 1872, page 433). Fig. 109 is one

* Nilsson: Primitive Inhabitants; p. 46, etc.—Madsen figuresa number of Danish specimens of this kind on
Plate 40 of his ‘‘Antiquités Préhistoriques du Danemark.”’

HARPOON-HEADS. 83

of his illustrations, showing a dart of elk-bone* with flint-splinters set closely
together and disposed in two rows. I present this figure simply with a view to
show the appearance of a bone-and-flint dart somewhat differing in type from
those described by Professor Nilsson.

Stone points, we may assume, were also used as armatures for harpoons in
neolithic times; but Professor Nilsson’s suggestion that some may have been
inserted in sockets of bone or wood, and thus connected with the shaft, is not
supported by any evidence, provided my opinion that no such sockets have been
discovered is correct. Those of wood, of course, could not have resisted decay ;
while sockets of bone or horn, if they had been used, would be still in existence,
like the much older horn and bone objects of the reindeer-period.

Fria. 110.—Scanian flint point set in wooden socket.

Nilsson figures (Plate X, Fig. 203) a well-chipped flint point found in the
earth near the sea-shore of the Sound of Lomma, in Seania, which he considers
as a harpoon-head. “A person who had long resided in Greenland,” he says,
“recognized it at once as such; and in order to show me the way in which the
stone point had been fastened to the harpoon, and the harpoon to the shaft, he
provided it with a piece of wood as represented in the sketch, Plate III, Fig. 49
(here Fig. 110). At the lower end of this piece of wood is an indentation into
which the shaft of the harpoon enters. Below is the loop by which the harpoon
is attached to the shaft as well as the strap, to the end of which a bladder is
tied.”+ He designates various other European flint points figured by him as
harpoon-heads used in this manner; but he is not very positive in his state-
ments, and finally expresses his own doubts in the following remark :—“ It

* The European elk corresponds to the American moose.

+ Nilsson: Primitive Inhabitants; p. 29.

84 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

ought, however, to be observed that it is difficult to draw a line of demarcation
between the stone points which have been harpoons, and those which have
belonged to arrows, because the same stone point could have been adapted either
to a harpoon or to an arrow.’”*

On the other hand, it may be taken for granted that shafts with chipped
stone points of suitable size and shape immediately attached to them, formed
fishing-darts at the period under consideration. It would be impossible, how-
ever, to single out the points thus employed, though such as are provided with
barbs seem particularly fitted for that purpose. Mr. John Evans, in his well-
known work on the ancient stone implements of Great Britain, figures (page
340, etc.) several chipped flint points of this class, small and large, that might
well have served as armatures for fishing-spears, and others are represented on
the plates of Captain Madsen’s work on the prehistoric antiquities of Denmark ;
but, in view of the uncertainty as to their use, I refrain from copying any of
these illustrations.

Arrow-heads.—W ith regard to arrows used in shooting fish—a method most
probably practised during the period here treated—I have nothing to add to my
statements on page 56. An arrow employed in hunting quadrupeds or birds
would also on occasion serve to kill a fish, and hence an attempt at specification
must necessarily prove fruitless.

Sinkers.—The objects of this class obtained from the lacustrine settlements
of the stone age may in general be considered as neolithic relics; but the antiquity
of such as have been found on or below the surface of the soil, in water, swamps,
etc., is doubtful, to say the least, considering that line and net-sinkers of stone are
used in Europe at the present time. Only particular circumstances of associa-
tion would favor the recognition of the period to which such stray specimens
pertain. In a late work Dr. Arthur Mitchell, of Edinburgh, makes some obser-
vations bearing on this subject, which are of sufficient interest to be given here
in full. I also insert the illustrations accompanying his remarks.

“There is a class of stone objects,” he says, ‘ which are nearly always to be
seen in collections of antiquities, and which are now correctly called sinkers.
They have been often found under circumstances which indicate a great age.
Worsaae figures them among the antiquities of the stone age in Denmark. They
vary much in form and in character. Most of them are simply bored stones—
generally with one hole roughly picked or ground through them, but occasionally
with two. Sometimes they have a groove cut down one face of the stone and
running over its end, and another similar groove cut transversely to this; or the

} Nilsson: Primitive Inhabitants; p. 32.

SINKERS. 85

groove may run round the circumference of a flattish ovoid water-worn pebble,
giving it somewhat the appearance of a ship’s block.

Fig. 111.—Sink-stone of steatite from Shetland; weight, 14 ounces.

“These stone sinkers I have frequently seen in use. As regards the first
type, those which are simply bored stones, I have seen the same man with one
of them at the end of one line, and at the end of the other a sinker of lead cast
in a mould and tastefully shaped. Usually the bored sinkers are water-worn
stones, selected for suitability of shape; but sometimes they are made of a piece
of stone roughly flaked into a proper form; while at other times, where the
soft soapstone is found, there is more or less neatness in their design, and they
may even be found imitating the form of the leaden sinker, or having rudely
eut on them the initials of their owner (see Fig. 111). It may happen again
that they are entirely natural stones; that is, both their form and the hole
through them may be due to natural agencies. A sinker of this last kind I once
saw with a Shetlander. It was of flint, and he said he had brought it from
‘foreign parts,’ because he thought it would be useful at home as a sinker.

‘Of one of the types of sinkers, that showing the two grooves crossing each
other, there was some difficulty in seeing the exact way in which the line and
hooks were made fast to the stones, and what purpose the grooves served. Some
stones of this kind have been found in circumstances indicating great age; and
I remember hearing a distinguished antiquary, no longer alive, speculating
ingeniously as to whether they could really have served so commonplace a pur-
pose as that of sinking a fisherman’s line. But I have been able to set the
question at rest by procuring two specimens from the parish of Walls, through
the Rev. James Russell, with all the appliances on them exactly as they were
when actually in use a few years ago (see Figs. 112 and 113 on the following
page). Sinkers of this form vary in size. They are generally, I think, larger
than those of the bored form; and I understand that this is explained by the
fact that they are chiefly used when fishing in deep waters.

“Tt is not solely, however, in those districts of our country which we regard
as outlying and remote that we encounter fishermen using stone instead of lead
or other materials for the manufacture of sinkers. On the Tweed to this day the
nets are weighted by bored stones, and specimens of these are placed in museums
of antiquities, not because they are themselves objects of antiquity, but because

their history being accurately known, they teach lessons of caution in dealing

86 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

with objects not very dissimilar, about the history and use of which we have no
accurate knowledge.’’*

Fic. 112. Fre. 113.

Fries. 112 and 113.—Sink-stones from Walls, in Shetland. The larger is a roughly-flaked piece
of sandstone, and the smaller a water-worn beach-stone. In order to make the cord grasp these stones
securely, grooves are roughly cut in them in the way indicated by the woodcuts. The larger stone is
8 inches long, and weighs 43 ounces; the smaller, to which the hook is still attached, is 5 inches long,

and weighs 11 ounces.

If, under these circumstances, I describe and figure some sinkers, I do it with
the mental reservation which the foregoing observations necessarily imply.y I
would also refer again to the difficulty of making a proper distinction between
line and net-sinkers, for even at present heavy line-sinkers and light net-sinkers

are used, and vice versa.

* Mitchell: The Past in the Present—What is Civilization? New York, 1881; p. 141, ete.
+ The scrutinizing reader, I hope, will not find fault with me for describing, while treating of the neolithic
period, objects which may be of much later date. The possibility that some of them may be neolithic will be

aceepted as my excuse.

SINKERS. 87

Sinkers in their simplest, I am almost tempted to say natural, form are
like that in possession of the fisherman mentioned by Dr. Mitchell, namely,
naturally perforated nodules of flint, which, according to Dr. Klemm, “are so
frequent and sometimes of such large size on the shores of Heligoland and
Rugen, that the inhabitants use them as net-weights and even as anchors.’
There are several net-sinkers and anchor-stones of this kind in the Berlin
Provincial Museum, one of the latter having been obtained by Dr. Friedel in
the Island of Rugen from a fisherman who actually used it as an anchor. Such
weights doubtless were employed in very early times; but, of course, no one would
attempt to speculate on the antiquity of this class of relics, or rather on the time
in which they were utilized. Some of these natural formations considered as
sinkers may in reality never have been applied to any use by man.

Mr. John Evans, having described the grooved hammers found in Great
Britain, continues as follows :—

Fig. 114.—Stone sinker. Burns.

“Closely connected in form and character with the mining hammers, though
as a rule much smaller in size, and in all probability intended for a totally differ-
ent purpose, are the class of stone objects of which Fig. 149 (here Fig. 114)
gives a representation, reproduced from the ‘Archzeological Journal.’ This
specimen was found with two others at Burns, near Ambleside, Westmoreland ;
and another, almost precisely similar in size and form, was found at Perry’s
Leap, and is preserved in the Museum of Antiquities at Alnwick Castle.
Another, from Westmoreland, is in the Mayer Collection at Liverpool, and they
have, I believe, been found in some numbers in that district. A stone of the
same character, but more elaborately worked, having somewhat acorn-shaped
ends, was found by the Hon. W. O. Stanley, F.8. A., at Old Geir, Anglesea.
They were originally regarded as hammer-stones, but such as I have examined
are made of a softer stone than those usually employed for hammers, and they

* Klemm: Allgemeine Culturwissenschaft; Werkzeuge und Waffen; Leipzig, 1854; p. 12.

+ Friedel: Fuhrer durch die Fischerei-Abtheilung ; p. 1.

88 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

are not battered or worn at the ends. It seems, therefore, probable that they
were used as sinkers for nets or lines, for which purpose they are well adapted,
the groove being deep enough to protect small cord around it from wear by
friction. They seem also usually to occur in the neighborhood either of lakes,
rivers, or the sea. A water-worn nodule of sandstone, five inches long, with a
deep groove round it, and described as probably a sinker for a net or line, was
found in Aberdeenshire, and is in the Antiquarian Museum at Edinburgh; and
I have one of soft grit, about the same length, given me by Mr. R. D. Darbishire,
F. G.S., and found by him near Nantlle, Carnarvonshire. Many of these sink-
stones are probably of no great antiquity.”

Mr. Evans refers in the same place to “sink-stones, weights, or plummets
formed by boring a hole towards one end of a flattish stone.” He mentions
several specimens, but gives no illustrations of them. While in Sweden, he saw
the leg-bones of animals used as weights for sinking nets.*

“Tn Ireland,” Sir William Wilde observes, ‘‘ sink-stones, for either nets or
fishing-lines, are by no means rare, as they continue in use even at the present
day ; and quoit-like discs, of sandstone, from four to six inches in diameter and
with a hole in the centre to attach them to the bottom-rope of a net, are not uncom-
mon in localities where lead is scarce. —— — But, besides these rude imple-
ments, we find others formed with more care, and which are generally supposed to
have been attached to either lines or nets.” He gives three illustrations of such
stones, Figs. 77, 78, and 79, of which I reproduce the first two as Figs. 115 and
116. The original of Fig. 115 is described as being composed of soft white

L
! :
Fig. 115. Fia. 116.

Fics. 115 and 116.—Stone sinkers. Ireland.

sandstone traversed by a vein of quartz, and encircled by a groove round the
long axis for retaining a string or thong. Fig. 116 represents “a plummet-like
piece of sandstone, three inches and a half long, with a hole at the small extrem-

* Evans: Ancient Stone Implements; p. 211.
+ Sir W. Wilde: A Descriptive Catalogue of the Antiquities in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy -

Vol. I, Dublin, 1863; p. 94.

SINKERS. 89

”

ity.” Yet, Sir W. Wilde, while admitting that these stones would form useful
sink-stones, thinks there is no direct authority bearing on the subject. Indeed,
the stone represented by Fig. 115 has been regarded by some as one of the
‘flail-stones ” attached by a thong to a stick, used in early Irish warfare, and to
which some allusion is made in ancient records. As for the object shown in Fig.
116, he thinks it might have been used as a plummet, or the weight for a steel-
yard or ouncel, ‘an implement in much more frequent use than a beam and
scales in the western parts of Ireland up toa very recent period.’’*

I have little doubt that Fig. 115, at least, represents a sinker.

Fic. 117.—County of Down. (9621). Fia. 118.—County of Westmeath. (9627).

Fries. 117 and 118.—Stone sinkers (?).

I present in Figs. 117 and 118 delineations of two of the quoit-like dises
with a hole in the centre, to which Sir W. Wilde draws attention. They were
sent, in 1870, with other Irish antiquities, to the Smithsonian Institution by Mr.
Robert Day, Jr., of Cork County. The material of these specimens, which cer-
tainly have the appearance of being very old, is fine-grained sandstone. They
were found, respectively, in the counties of Down and Westmeath.

Passing over to Danish specimens, I give in Fig. 119 on the following page
a somewhat enlarged copy of one figured by Mr. Worsaae,+ who classes it,
doubtless for good reason, among the relics of the stone age. He informs me that
it was dug up in a bog in the Island of Seeland.

* Sir W. Wilde: Catalogue; p. 95.
7 Worsaae: Nordiske Oldsager; Fig. 88, p. 18.

R12

90 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

Figs. 120, 121, and 122 are copied from Plate 30 of Captain Madsen’s work,
before cited.*

Fre. 120. Fie. 122.

Fia. 121.
All 3.

Fries. 119-122.—Stone Sinkers. Denmark.

The Danish locality where the original of Fig. 120 was found is not speci-
fied. The object shown in Fig. 121 was ploughed up in the District of
Soré, and that represented by Fig. 122, exhibiting two grooves crossing each
other, was obtained in the District of Viborg. All these Danish specimens are
preserved in the Museum of Northern Antiquities at Copenhagen.

Professor Nilsson describes and represents several sink-stones, one of them,
like the Danish specimen, provided with two grooves crossing each other (Fig.
122). Concerning this class of sinkers he observes:—“‘ These plummets are
generally large, and have probably been used as weights for trolling-nets, ete.
They are still occasionally picked up in islets and reefs on the coast of Bohus-

* They are there Figs. 13, 17, and 16, respectively.

BOATS. 91

Lan (west coast of Sweden).* He also figures a number of sinkers with single
grooves.

To the figures of sinkers here presented others could be added, but I have
selected only such as most probably were sink-stones ; for, without entering into
details, I will confess that I have my doubts as to several other figured specimens
to which that character is attributed.

Professor Virchow alludes to ancient clay net-sinkers, chiefly obtained from
pile-works in Prussia, which, however, are of comparatively late origin, being
referable to the close of pagan times. The largest and most recent of the
sinkers, from Boissin Lake near Belgard (Pomerania) are described as large flat
round dises with a hole in the centre, and, as a rule, rather slightly burned. Of
special interest is Professor Virchow’s observation that such clay net-weights,
burned entirely black (ganz schwarz gebrannt), are still used in Eastern Prussia.}

Boats.—Quite a number of ancient boats, discovered under circumstances
favoring preservation, have been described by various authors, but most of them
doubtless belong to post-neolithic times. There is in the Provincial Museum at
Berlin an oaken dug-out, formed like a shallow trough, and hollowed out by
means of fire, while its outside is rudely shaped with stone instruments. It
measures, in its present shrunken state, eight meters in length and about forty
centimeters in width. This boat was found near Berneuchen, in the District of
Landsberg on the Warthe (Brandenburg), two meters imbedded in peat.t It
may be a relic of the stone age. .

I find no reference to existing stone-age boats in such publications on Danish
and Seandinavian antiquities as are within my reach. Professor Nilsson treats
of boats in a transient way, merely alluding to the probable method of their
manufacture. ‘These (the boats) seem to have been excavated trunks of trees,
for the broad gouge has evidently been used for excavating wood.’’§

Sir W. Wilde describes several ancient Irish boats still in existence, though
without giving any clue as to the time from which they may date. ‘So far as
we yet know,” he observes, ‘“‘ two kinds of boats appear to have been in use in
very early times in the British Isles—the canoe and the curragh||—the one
formed out of a single piece of wood, the other composed of wicker-work, covered
with hide. No ancient specimen of the curragh could, however, have come down
to modern times. The single-piece canoe is generally formed of oak, and may
be divided into three varieties, viz., a small trough-shaped one, square at the

* Nilsson: Primitive Inhabitants; p. 26.

+ Circulare des Deutschen Fischerei-Vereins im Jahre 1873; Berlin, 1873; p. 149.
+ Friedel: Fuhrer durch die Fischerei-Abtheilung ; p. 2.

§ Nilsson: Primitive Inhabitants; p. 101.

|| Coracle.

92 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

ends, from eight to twelve feet long, round at the bottom, and having projecting
handles at either extremity, apparently for the purpose of transporting it from
place to place. Such a boat could be used either in fishing or as a means of
transport upon the inland lakes and rivers. This, in common with the two other
varieties, is very shallow, so that those who used it must have sat flat upon the
bottom, and progressed themselves by means of light paddles—probably one
used in either hand; this is further confirmed by the total absence of all appear-
ance of row-locks. The second variety generally averages twenty feet in length
and about two in breadth, is flat-bottomed, round at the prow, and nearly square
at the stern. —— — The third variety of ancient Irish canoe is sharp at both
ends.””*

He refers to the discovery of a boat of the first-mentioned kind in Monaghan
County, but furnishes no illustration. It may or may not be a boat made
during the stone age. The two other kinds are represented by specimens in the
Dublin Museum, and Sir W. Wilde gives figures of them, which I will not
reproduce, because the originals appear to belong to more or less recent periods.

“A single-piece canoe,” he says, “has been discovered either upon or in the
vicinity of all the crannoges which have been carefully examined. They have
also been found in bogs and in the beds of rivers, as the Boyne, the Brosna, and
the Ban, ete. Ware says that single-piece canoes were in use on some rivers in
Ireland in his time. The curragh or coracle is still employed: upon the Boyne
it is formed of wicker-work, covered with hide; and in Aran the framework is
formed of light timber, fastened together with great ingenuity, and covered with
canvas.”’+

While treating of ‘Upheaval since the Human Period of the Central
District of Scotland,” Sir Charles Lyell gives a highly interesting account of
boats imbedded in silt bordering the estuary of the river Clyde; and though his
observations refer to boats of different periods, I cannot resist the temptation of
inserting here the distinguished investigator’s valuable information :—

“Tt has long been a fact familiar to geologists, that, both on the east and west
coasts of the central part of Scotland, there are lines of raised beaches, contain-
ing marine shells of the same species as those now inhabiting the neighboring
sea. The two most marked of these littoral deposits occur at heights of about
forty and twenty-five feet above high-water mark, that of forty feet being con-
sidered as the more ancient, and owing its superior elevation to a longer con-
tinuance of the upheaving movement. They are seen in some places to rest on
the arctic shell-beds and boulder clay of the glacial period.

* Sir W. Wilde: Catalogue; p. 202, ete.
+ Ibid.; p. 204.

BOATS. 93

“Jn those districts where large rivers, such as the Clyde, Forth, and Tay,
enter the sea, the lower of the two deposits, or that of twenty-five feet, expands
into a terrace, fringing the estuaries, and varying in breadth from a few yards to
several miles. Of this nature are the flat lands which occur along the margin
of the Clyde at Glasgow, which consist of finely laminated sand, silt, clay, and
gravel. Mr. John Buchanan, a zealous antiquary, writing in 1855, informs us
that in the course of the eighty years preceding that date, no less than seventeen
canoes had been dug out of this estuarine silt, and that he had personally
inspected a large number of them before they were exhumed. Five of them
lay buried in silt under the streets of Glasgow, one in a vertical position with
the prow uppermost as if it had sunk in a storm. In the inside of it were a
number of marine shells. Twelve other canoes were found about a hundred
yards back from the river, at the average depth of about nineteen feet from the
surface of the soil, or seven feet above high-water mark; but a few of them were
only four or five feet deep, and consequently more than twenty feet above the
sea-level. One was sticking in the sand at an angle of forty-five degrees, another
had been capsized, and lay bottom uppermost: all the rest were in a horizontal
position, as if they had sunk in smooth water. Within the last few years (1869)
three other canoes have been found in the silts of the Clyde, between Bowling
and Dumbarton, and are preserved for inspection in the adjacent grounds of
Auchentorlie. Two of these had been exhumed from the bed of the river near
Dunglass. They were found lying abreast of each other, embedded in tenacious
clay, containing water-worn boulders, overlaid by a deposit of alluvial mud.

‘‘Almost every one of these ancient boats was formed out of a single oak-
stem, hollowed out by blunt tools—probably stone axes—aided by the action of
fire; a few were cut beautifully smooth, evidently with metallic tools. Hence a
gradation could be traced from a pattern of extreme rudeness to one showing

great mechanical ingenuity. Two of them were built of planks, one of the two,
dug up on the property of Bankton in 1853, being eighteen feet in length, and
very elaborately constructed. Its prow was not unlike the beak of an antique
galley; its stern, formed of a triangular-shaped piece of oak, fitted in exactly
like those of our day. The planks were fastened to the ribs, partly by singularly
shaped oaken pins, and partly by what must have been square nails of some
kind of metal; these had entirely disappeared, but some of the oaken pins
remained. This boat had been upset, and was lying keel uppermost, with the
prow pointing straight up the river. In one of the canoes a beautifully polished
celt or axe of greenstone was found, in the bottom of another a plug of cork,
‘which,’ as Professor Geikie remarks, ‘could only have come from the latitudes
of Spain, Southern France, or Italy.’

“There can be no doubt that some of these buried vessels are of far more
ancient date than others. Those most roughly hewn may be relics of the stone

94 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

period; those more smoothly cut, of the bronze age; and the regularly built
boat of Bankton may perhaps come within the age of iron. The occurrence of
all of them in one and the same upraised marine formation by no means implies
that they belong to the same era, for in the beds of all great rivers and estuaries,
there are changes continually in progress, brought about by the deposition,
removal, and redepositicn of gravel, sand, and fine sediment, and by the shifting
of the channel of the main currents from year to year, and from century to cen-
tury. All these it behooves the geologist and antiquary to bear in mind, so as
to be always on their guard, when they are endeavoring to settle the relative
date, whether of objects of art or of organic remains embedded in any set of
alluvial strata.”

M. de Mortillet mentions several dug-outs extracted from peat, gravel, ete.,
in France.+ Yet, from his descriptions, which are otherwise sufficiently minute,
I cannot infer that a single one of them pertains to the stone age.

I am not aware that paddles or other boat-propelling implements of wood
referable to the neolithic era have come to light. Several broken paddles are
preserved in the Dublin Museum, and one of them is figured by Sir W. Wilde.
“They are all of black oak, and present the appearance of great antiquity.’’t

Anchor-stones.—The anchor in its simplest form—next to a naturally per-
forated heavy nodule of flint—doubtless was a stone of proper form and weight,
attached to some sort of rope. A groove cut around the stone for holding the
rope in place rendered this primitive anchor more serviceable. Such stones,
however, may belong to any age, and I allude to them merely for indicating the
probable character of a neolithic anchor.

Mr. Friedel mentions an Ankerstein from the District of Angermiinde
(Brandenburg), exhibited in the Berlin Provincial Museum. It is of sandstone,
about the size of a man’s head, and encircled by a deep groove.§

I have no illustration of such a stone to present.

Professor Nilsson figures on Plate IX (Fig. 189) a perforated stone object
with four pointed arms, forming a sort of cross. It is here reproduced as Vig.
123. This specimen, found in the Province of Bohusland and preserved in the
Antiquarian Museum of Lund, has been considered as an anchor-stone, and
Nilsson formerly shared this opinion; but subsequently he thought it more
probable that it had been the head of a battle-axe, though he is by no means

* Sir C. Lyell: Antiquity of Man; p. 50, ete.

+ De Mortillet: Origine de la Navigation et de la Péche; Matériaux; Vol. III, 1867; p. 48, ete.—This is
not, as the title would indicate, M. de Mortillet’s entire publication, but only one of its chapters.

{ Sir W. Wilde: Catalogue; p. 204, ete.
§ Friedel: Fthrer durch die Fischerei-Abtheilung; p. 1.

ANCHOR-STONES. 95

certain. A nearly similar object, on which zigzag-lines are engraved, was
likewise found in Bohusland, and is now in the Museum of Goteborg. Professor
Nilsson observes that he has not yet found this form among weapons used by
modern savages.* The Peruvians, I will mention, used star-shaped perforated
weapon-heads of stone, copper, or bronze. M. Cazalis de Fondouce, who saw
the original or Fig. 123 at Lund, considers it too unwieldy to have served as
suggested by the Swedish archzeologist.+

1
4

Fra. 123.—Stone anchor (?). Bohusland.

3—BRONZE AGE.

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS.

It would be beyond the scope of this treatise to discuss to any length the
e 5
question by what agencies implements and ornaments of bronze gradually found
their way to those European countries in which the use of metal previously had
been unknown. I shall offer only a few observations, though for the purposes
here in view it would almost suffice to state that bronze in the form of cast
articles appeared there, first sparsely, and afterward in greater abundance, inso-
much that the ordinary implements hitherto made of stone, etc., could be
replaced by more serviceable ones of bronze. This transition, however, must
have been slow, especially in its beginning stage, the costly composition} being
* Nilsson: Primitive Inhabitants; p. 75.
+ Cazalis de Fondouce: Compte-rendu du Congrés International d’Archéologie et d’Anthropologie Préhisto-
riques de Copenhague; Matériaux; Vol. VI, 1870-71; p. 235.

{ The ordinary bronze of that period is an alloy of nine parts of copper and one of tin.

96 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

then, as may be assumed, accessible only to the wealthy, while the poor had to
content themselves with non-metallic tools and implements as before. In fact,
a period in which bronze was exclusively used never existed, as the examination
of bronze-age tumuli has revealed; for in many of them objects of bronze and
stone were found in close juxtaposition. Even in times when iron was employed,
stone implements had not yet entirely fallen into disuse.

Some believe in immigrations of bronze-producing Asiaties—for Asia is
generally considered as that part of the world where bronze had its origin—
among them the distinguished Danish archeologist, J. J. A. Worsaae, who
draws attention to the circumstance that after the appearance of bronze a change
in the mode of burial took place; for, while the men of neolithic times buried
their dead unburned, those of the bronze period mostly disposed of them by
cremation.*

The inhabitants of the Mediterranean countries probably were, in conse-
quence of their commercial relations, earlier in possession of bronze than the
populations of more northern countries, who, it may be conjectured, received
their first supplies from the South; Yet there can be no doubt that the people
who obtained objects of bronze first by importation, manufactured them after-
ward; for in different districts different types of the same class of articles are
observable, insomuch “that a practised archzeologist can in almost all cases, on
inspection of a group of bronze antiquities, fix with some degree of confidence
the country in which they were found.”{ The bronze objects themselves present
a great variety of tools, weapons, and ornaments, which I will specify, following
Mr. John Evans’s classification. He enumerates :—celts (flat, flanged, winged,
socketed), chisels, gouges, hammers, sickles, knives, razors, daggers, rapiers,
halberds, maces, leaf-shaped swords, arrow and spear-heads, shields, bucklers,
helmets, trumpets, bells, pins, torques, bracelets, rings, ear-rings, and many other
personal ornaments ; finally, vessels, caldrons, ete. It should be understood that
this list of the classes of antique bronze articles found in Great Britain and
Ireland includes some which probably pertain to a period more recent than the
bronze age. Mr. Evans is careful to make his comments in every doubtful case.

As the most useful among the bronze articles may be considered the edged
tools, such as hatchets, chisels, knives, etc., by means of which work of various
kinds, especially wood-work, could be done in far shorter time than before their
introduction. The bronze relics in general present remarkably elegant forms,
even the celts, spear-heads and other smaller articles, and many are ornamented

* Worsaae: Die Vorgeschichte des Nordens nach gleichzeitigen Denkmilern; p. 50.

+ This theory, however, may not hold good for Hungarian bronze antiquities, which exhibit marked peculi-
arities of form. They probably came directly from the Hast.

+ Evans: The Ancient Bronze Implements, Weapons, and Ornaments of Great Britain and Ireland; New
York, 1881; p. 24.

LAKE-DWELLINGS. 97

with punched lines of divers patterns. The pottery of this period, though made
without the application of the lathe, is superior to that of preceding times. It
is obvious that the men of the bronze age, who showed so much appreciation of
art, were considerably advanced in culture, when compared with the stone-using
people hitherto considered. Some observations on bronze-age civilization, as it
appears in a special district of Europe, will be made in the following section.

LAKE-DWELLINGS.

Character.—The bronze-yielding lake-settlements of Switzerland were gen-
erally of greater extent than those of the preceding period, and, being farther
distant from the shore, stood in deeper water. The piles supporting the platform
were split stems, from five to six inches or more in thickness, and pointed with
bronze hatchets. The huts, it seems, resembled in their construction those of
the stone-age colonies. As for the occupation of the lake-men of this period, it
may be safely inferred that, like their predecessors, they were agriculturists,
hunters, and fishers. They cultivated the cereals previously mentioned, and,
in addition, oats, which, however, only appears at the stations of later date.
They probably used deer-horn or wooden hoes for preparing the ground, and,
perhaps, employed a plough of simple form. To the list of animals already
domesticated in the preceding period must be added a pony-like horse and a
dog somewhat larger than that of the earlier settlements; there are also traces
of a smaller species of dog. They hunted the wild boar, stag, roe, and brown
bear. The first-named of these animals still existed in large numbers, as its
bones testify, while the stag appears less frequently than in former times.
Remains of the hare are wanting, probably because, as formerly, it was not eaten,
owing to superstitious motives. The ibex, elk, urus, and bison were not as much
hunted as in the earlier period, having, perhaps, farther retreated from the
abodes of man. The bones of domesticated animals found on the sites of the
bronze-age pile-works outnumber those of the wild species, a fact which would
indicate a decline in hunting and a more vigorous application to husbandry.
Fishing evidently was eagerly pursued, as I shall have occasion to show.

The bronze tools and implements in use among the lake-people were celts or
hatchets of every description, hammers with sockets for the insertion of crooked
handles, chisels, gouges, knives (often of elegant form, the blades being curved
in the direction of a wave-line), razors, sickles (designed to be provided with
wooden handles)", fish-hooks, sewing-needles, and engraving-instruments.
Among the weapons are to be mentioned leaf-shaped, short-handled swords and

* Some of these handles have been found, which are carved with great ingenuity to fit the grip of the hand.

R13

98 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

daggers, both rare, socketed lance-heads, often ornamented, and barbed arrow-
heads with a stem for insertion into the shaft, rarely socketed. A few bridle-
bits of bronze, indicative of horsemanship, have been found, but no horse-shoes.

The bronze ornaments, which are very numerous, comprise hair and dress-
pins, armlets, neck-rings, finger-rings, ear-rings, fibulee, buttons, and various
other objects designed for personal adornment. The pins, sometimes very long,
are generally provided at the upper end with knobs of different, mostly really
tasteful, patterns; some terminate in rings. Flattish rings, about three-fourths
of an inch in diameter, are supposed to represent the money of the period.
Moulds of stone, clay, or bronze, for casting various objects, have been found ;
other articles may have been obtained by trade from abroad, especially certain
pieces of superior workmanship.

Numerous clay spindle-whorls bear witness to the extensive production of
flax-thread, undoubtedly much used in the manufacture of linen cloth designed
for garments. Skins, it may be supposed, served in their stead during the cold
season.

The clay vessels of this period betoken a considerable progress in the ceramic
art. The clay of large pots serving for the preservation of provisions is strongly
mixed with quartz sand; that of the smaller vessels, which often exhibit elegant
shapes, is purified, and forms a homogeneous mass. Some vessels have convex
or even conical bottoms, and had to be supported by those coarse clay rings
previously mentioned, which are peculiar to the bronze period. There have been
found plates which may be considered as an innovation, as they are absent in
the stone-age pile-works; and clay lamps with two ears for suspension denote
another progress in the civilization of the lake-people. The ornamentation of
the pottery, like that of the bronze articles, consists of dots, incised parallel
lines, rows of triangles, concentric circles, frets, and other geometric designs.
Many of the vessels have a coating of black paint, but different colors were
sometimes employed for displaying ornamental designs, such as triangles and
circles. A black-ware dish from the Cortaillod settlement (Lake of Neuchatel)
is decorated with regularly-cut, thin sheets of tin, which are rendered adhesive
by means of a resinous substance. Curious objects of clay, shaped like a cres-
cent supported by a foot—rudely made, and yet exhibiting some form of decora-
tion—have caused much speculation, being regarded either as head-rests or as
symbols connected with moon-worship.

It is supposed that the lake-people of this period disposed of their dead
both by interment and cremation.

According to Professor Desor’s conjecture, the introduction of bronze in
Switzerland took place eight hundred or a thousand years before the Christian
era.*

* Most of the facts mentioned in this short résumé are taken from an excellent little work, entitled ‘‘ Die
Blithezeit des Bronzealters der Pfahlbauten in der Schweiz, dargestellt von Prof. E. Desor; Referat von Dr,
A. Jahn; Bern, 1875.

FISH-HOOKS. 99

Fishing-implements—Excepting bronze fish-hooks, hardly any fishing im-
plements have come to light, which can be safely referred to the period charac-
terized by the knowledge of bronze. The lake-men of these times doubtless
used sink-stones and floats like those previously described, and nets of the same
make, though their methods of net-fishing may have undergone changes for the
better. Of this, however, we know nothing. It is even possible that the use of
bone-headed harpoons was continued, for some time at least, and there is some
likelihood that the one or the other of the bone harpoon-heads described in these
pages, which were obtained from stone and bronze-yielding settlements, may in
reality pertain to the age of bronze.

SSS —

Fic. 124.—Fishing-implement (?) of bronze. Switzerland.

The pointed pieces of bone or flint serving as bait-holders, which are by
this time familiar to the reader, also seem to have been copied in bronze. Mr.
Friedel, at least, figures a double-pointed bronze object thus classed by him,*
stating at the same time that such specimens are extremely rare. I reproduce
his representation as Fig. 124. The locality where the original, of course a
lacustrine relic, was found is not specified.

Real fish-hooks of bronze, on the other hand, are very frequent in some
stations, exhibiting a great variety in form and size, and doubtless shaped in
accordance with the character of the kind of fish to be caught with them. The
smaller hooks are made of wire, either rounded or more or less square in the
section; the larger ones seem to be cast.; Some of the hooks bear so close a
resemblance to those used at the present time that an expert in angling might
have occasion to indulge in comments on their special applicability.

Figs. 125 to 137, on the following page, represent, in half-size, a series of
thirteen hooks obtained at the Nidau-Steinberg settlement,{ where the late Colonel
Schwab collected so many valuable relics, which he bequeathed to the city of
Bienne. Figs. 125 to 128 show unbarbed hooks, having the upper part of the
shank bent over, so as to form an eye for the attachment of the line. Figs. 129 to
134 illustrate barbed specimens, all with shanks bent at the upper extremity into
the shapes of hooks or eyes. Fig. 135 shows the shank notched for giving a hold

* Amtliche Berichte; p. 126, Fig. 64.
+ I must state, however, that I have not seen specimens of the larger kind.
+ Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. II, Plate XXXVI, Figs. 25, 32, 31, 26, 29, 30, 23, 21, 22, 24, 20, 28, 27,

respectively.

100 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

to the line. In Figs. 136 and 137 forms of unbarbed double hooks are given.
Thus it will be seen that hooks of this character are no recent invention.

| al
Lit

Tic. 125 Fig. 126. =. 127. Fic. 128. Fig. 129.

|
Q
Q o °
J :
Fria. 130. Fig. 131. Fig. 132. Fic. 133. Fig. 134.

Sie
Fig. 135. Fig. 136. Fic. 137.

All 3.

Figs. 125-137.—Bronze fish-hooks. Nidau-Steinberg.

The second group, comprising Figs. 138, 159, and 140, illustrates forms of
hooks from the stations of Font and Cortaillod, in the Lake of Neuchatel. The
originals, formerly belonging to the Clement collection, are now in the Peabody
Museum (Nos. 6069.8, 26471, and 6096. Z). The unbarbed hook shown in Fig.

FISH-HO0OKsS. 101

138 is remarkable on account of the unusual form of the eye; Figs. 139 and 140
represent barbed double hooks.*

Fic. 138.—Font. Fic. 139.—Cortaillod. Fic. 140.—Cortaillod.

Figs. 188-140.—Bronze fish-hooks.

Figs. 141, 142, and 143+ show forms of fish-hooks from the station of Mon-
tellier, Lake of Morat or Murten, in the Canton of Freiburg (Fribourg). As
the illustrations fully exhibit the character of the specimens, further explanations
are not needed.

Fic. 141. Fig. 142. Fic. 143.

Fics. 141-143.—Bronze fish-hooks. Montellier.

The next group, composed of Figs. 144 and 145. on page 102, exhibits
designs of two bronze fish-hooks, obtained, respectively, at the mouth of the

* Not a single barbed double hook is figured in the translation of Dr. Keller’s work.

7 Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. II, Plate C, Figs. 21, 20, and 22, respectively.

102 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

small river Scheuss, which empties into the northeastern end of the Lake of Bienne,
and at the Lattringen station in the same lake. These two illustrations probably
represent the objects in natural size; but nothing relative to it is said in Mr.
Lee’s translation of Dr. Keller’s reports, from which the figures are taken.*

+) £(2)

Fia. 144.—Mouth of river Scheuss. Fia. 145.—Lattringen.

Fics. 144 and 145.—Bronze fish-hooks.

The very fine and large specimen of which Fig. 146 shows the form and
size, belonged to the series of lacustrine relics sent by the Antiquarian Society
of Ziirich to the International Fishery Exhibition, held, as stated, in the year
1880 at Berlin, and the figure is copied from the volume treating of that exhibi-
tion. It was found at Romanshorn, on the Swiss side of the Lake of Constance.
Though there is, as far as I can discover, no pile-work at Romanshorn, such
constructions existed in the neighborhood, and the specimen is considered as a
relic of the lake-men.{ The originals of Figs. 147 and 148§ were obtained at
the station of Unter-Uhldingen in the Ueberlinger See (Baden), and that of
Fig. 149,|
Lake Starnberg, Bavaria.

a large unbarbed double hook, is a relic from the Roseninsel, in

* Keller: Lake Dwellings; Plate XC, Figs. 12 and 13.

t{ Amtliche Berichte; p. 127, Fig. 74.

{ The frontispiece represents a still larger lacustrine bronze fish-hook. Copied from Plate LXVIII of Keller’s
“ Lake Dwellings.”

§ Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. II, Plate XXIX, Figs. 21 and 22.

|| Ibid..; Vol. II, Plate CLXXXI, Fig. 7.

FISH-HOOKS. 103

zZ iT
2 dy
Fia. 147.—Unter-Uhldingen. Fig. 148.—Unter-Uhldingen.
1
1
Fig. 146.—Romanshorn. i Fig. 149.—Roseninsel.

Fries. 146-149.—Bronze fish-hooks.

Lastly, I present on the following page in Figs. 150 to 153* a group of bronze
fish-hooks, barbed and unbarbed, from settlements in the Lake of Bourget,
Savoy. The original of Fig. 150 is certainly of very clumsy make, and its shape
suggestive of some doubt as to its use as a fish-hook.

The originals of Figs. 154 and 155, also on page 104, obtained at the pile-
work of Peschiera, on Lake Garda, are designated as small harpoons.; They cer-

* Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. II, Plate CLVII, Figs. 13, 12, 18, and 19, respectively.
¢ Ibid.; Vol. II, Plate CXIX, Figs. 1 and 3

104 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

tainly are too diminutive for such a use, and Fig. 154, moreover, is curiously
curved, and has an eye at the upper extremity. I conjecture that the originals of

52. Fig. 153.

All 1.
Frias. 150-153.—Bronze fish-hooks. Lake of Bourget.
both, Figs. 154 and 155, were fish-hooks not yet brought into the proper form by
bending, and I have the same opinion with regard to the object represented by
Fig. 156, a specimen from Moringen, figured by Mr. Friedel.*

bole

1
2

Fig. 154.—Peschiera.

Fic. 155.—Peschiera. Fic. 156.—Mo6ringen.

Fie. 154-156.—Barbed bronze rods not yet bent into the form of fish-hooks.

* Amtliche Berichte; p. 128, Fig. 84.

BOATS. i 105

Bronze points, however, which may possibly have been the armatures of har-
poons and arrows for shooting fish have occurred, and I give illustrations of a few.
Figs. 157 and 158 show barbed points from Moringen, the one stemmed, the
other socketed.* Fig. 159 represents a socketed specimen from Peschiera,} and
Fig. 160 another one from the Roseninsel, in Lake Starnberg.{ Yet the use
of bone and flint points may have long continued after the introduction of bronze.

1 ie 1
rT 1 2 4
Fic. 1657.—Moringen. Fic. 158.—M6ringen. Fic. 159.—Peschiera. Fic. 160.—Roseninsel.

Fries. 157-160.— Barbed bronze armatures.

Boats.—The possession of bronze hatchets enabled the lake-dwellers of this
period to produce better dug-outs than those made by their predecessors, who
were restricted to the use of stone implements. Many of the boats, however,
have been found under circumstances which render it difficult to determine their
antiquity, as in the case of those discovered in bronze-yielding pile-works inhab-
ited up to the time when iron was used. Such may be either of bronze or iron-
age origin.

A curious boat was found in the settlement near Cudrefin, in the Lake of
Neuchatel. In the translation of Keller’s work reference is made to the extent
of this station and its numerous piles, and it is further mentioned that “ pottery
has been found here and a boat made out of a single stem.”§ From this scanty
information it is impossible to draw any conclusion as to the antiquity of the
last-named object. At any rate, I reproduce as Fig. 161 on the next page the
three views illustrating the appearance of this boat,|| which is certainly of a
remarkable form, and, being provided with a sort of handle at one end, reminds

* Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. II, Plate XLVII, Figs. 9 and 11.
} Ibid. ; Vol. II, Plate CXIX, Fig. 2.

f{Ibid.; Vol. II, Plate CLXXXI, Fig. 6.

§Ibid.; Vol. I, p. 462.

|| Ibid. ; Vol. II, Plate LXX XVII, Figs. 3, 4, and 5.
R14

106 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

one of a class of ancient Irish boats mentioned by Sir W. Wilde (page 62 of
this publication). This dug-out, which was with great difficulty taken in several
pieces out of the water, is thus described by Professor Grangier :—

Fic. 161.—Boat. Cudrefin.

“The Cudrefin canoe is about thirty-six and a half English feet long, and
about two feet nine inches in its broadest part. The height in the middle is
about two feet, the depth nearly one foot six inches, the thickness of the sides is
three inches, and that of the bottom rather more than four inches. At the
bottom of the boat there are four cross-ribs, made out of the same piece of oak
timber as the boat, and at a distance apart of eight or nine feet; that at the
prow is an actual seat, and is about one foot wide and eight inches high; the
three others are about three inches high and seven inches wide. They were
probably intended to strengthen the bottom. ——— As it would have been
rather difficult, with my small experience in these matters, to give an idea of the
different pieces which together make up this vessel, I have thought it best to
draw it, not just as it is at the present moment, but as it was before it was taken
out of the water. The most remarkable things about it, according to my ideas,
are the part like a handle and the prow, which are in very good preservation.”*

M. Edmond de Fellenberg succeeded in recovering two boats near the
station of Vingelz, in the Lake of Bienne. One of them is referred by him to
the bronze age. The first, an oaken dug-out strengthened by cross-ribs at the
bottom, measured a little over forty-three feet in length. A crack extended from
one end to the other, and it had been kept together in olden times by tron

* Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. I, p. 282.

BOATS. 107

cramps, remnants of which still remained in place. M. de Fellenberg ascribes
it to the pre-Roman iron period.

Fic. 162.—Boat. Vingelz.

Fig. 162 is a reduced copy of the representation of the second boat brought
to light by him.* He thus describes it :—

“When I was engaged in excavating the large canoe at Vingelz, one of
the visitors informed me that the stem of a tree, apparently cut into a conical
form, was projecting a little from the bottom of the lake; it lay about thirty
paces on one side of the great canoe. When we had secured the large boat, I
had this conical stem uncovered, and found, to my no small delight, that we had
unexpectedly fallen in with a second canoe, for the conical piece of wood soon
appeared as if cut off smoothly above, and after a few minutes’ work we brought
to light the complete sides of a small but still perfect ‘ Einbaum’ or ‘dug-out’
canoe. I had the whole canoe carefully uncovered, and there were so many
peculiarities in it that it may be considered as one of the most interesting boats
of its kind. It lay with its massive conical end towards the lake, tolerably
parallel with the great canoe, and, like it, nearly a hundred feet distant from
the ancient bank; that is, from the vineyards below Vingelz. The massive
conical end was the highest part, and the canoe sank gradually into the mud, so
that the other end was buried two feet deep. This canoe had one remarkable
peculiarity: at the hinder part it is cut off quite square, both sides and bottom,
and about eight inches from the end a board about an inch thick, and worked
with the hatchet, is fastened in on the bottom and between the sides as a kind of
makeshift. It seems from this, either that the front portion of this primitive
boat had, by some accident, been destroyed, and that the canoe had been made
again available by the insertion of this board instead of the stern part, or that
the stern portion of the boat, in its usual rounded form, had never existed, and
that this singular arrangement was the intentional termination of the boat. In

* Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. II, Plate LXX XVII, Figs. 1 and 2.

108 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

the latter case it is difficult to understand the prolongation of the bottom and
sides for eight inches, or the additional thickness of the wood just at this end
from about the fifth rib down to the part cut off. One would almost have thought
that this was the middle of the canoe.*

“The canoe, in its present state, is a trifle more than nineteen English feet
long, from the extreme point of the conical end to the part cut off. The circum-
ference is somewhat round, so that the sides project beyond the bottom and slope
very gradually downwards; thus the boat has somewhat the shape of a trough.
It is strengthened at the bottom by five cross-ribs, which rise nearly two and a
half inches from the bottom, but do not reach the sides. There is a peculiar
beak-shaped projection in the massive conical bow, which stretches about eight in-
ches into the hollow of the canoe and divides the extreme end into two parts. The
sides are very thin at the edge, and this is also the case with the bottom, except
near the part where it is cut off, where it is twice as thick as elsewhere. It was
unfortunately impossible to preserve this very perishable canoe, as it was of
poplar, and fell to pieces as soon as it was exposed. — — —

“Tf we ask the age of this interesting boat, it will itself return the answer ;
for in fact we found lying on the bottom in the middle of the canoe, a quantity
of pieces of pottery belonging to three different earthenware vessels. This
pottery is of half-baked clay in two instances, mixed with a quantity of quartzose
sand. One has the edge ornamented with impressions similar to those common
at Nidau-Steinberg and Méringen. One piece belonged to a shining black thin
vessel, and very decidedly indicates the bronze age, and to this age we may con-
sider the canoe to belong. It may probably have hailed from Nidau-Steinberg.’’+

Fic. 163.—Boat. Mercurago.

A boat from the pile-work in the turbary of Mercurago (see page 68 of this
publication) is described and figured by Professor Gastaldi.{ His illustration,
here given as Fig. 163, shows the boat in a fragmentary state, only one meter
and ninety centimeters of its length remaining; it is about a meter wide, and
thirty centimeters in depth. The station in question, it will be remembered, is

* This appears plausible enough. But a dug-out, twenty-two feet long, with a stern-piece placed exactly as
in the Swiss boat, was found in the lake-dwelling at Buston, near Kilmaurs, Scotland. It is described and repre-
sented in Dr. Robert Munro’s ‘‘Ancient Scottish Lake Dwellings or Crannogs ” (Edinburgh, 1882; p. 206, etc.).
He mentions in his work several Scottish canoes, but does not seem to assign to them any great antiquity.

7 Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. I, p. 224, ete.

{ Gastaldi: Lake Habitations; p. 102, Fig. 30.

FISH-HOOKS. 109

considered as belonging to the transition from stone to bronze, and the dug-out
may be of bronze-age origin.

FISHING-IMPLEMENTS AND UTENSILS NOT DERIVED FROM LAKE-
HABITATIONS.

Under this head I have so little to say that subdivisions appear entirely
superfluous ; for, though many non-lacustrine bronze-age objects bearing upon
fishing may be in existence, my scanty literary material will not permit me to go
beyond an allusion to a few fish-hooks and boats.

1 ah
1 1 t 2
Fic. 164.—Ireland. Fic. 165.—Scotland. Fic. 166.—Scotland. Fic, 167.—Denmark.

Fics. 164-167.—Bronze fish-hooks.

Mr. John Evans states in his excellent work on the bronze age that he
knows only of one bronze fish-hook found in the British Islands, namely, the
Irish specimen figured by Sir W. Wilde.* It is here represented as Fig. 164.
In this specimen, it will be seen, the upper end of the shank is flattened out for
the attachment of the line, just as in modern fish-hooks. There are, however,
in the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland five bronze hooks from
Glenluce, Wigtonshire, two of which have been figured. Figs. 165 and 166 are
copies.+ Mr. Worsaae figures only one Danish fish-hook of bronze in his eat-
alogue of the antiquities in the Copenhagen Museum.{ His representation is
here copied as Fig. 167. He informs me that this fish-hook was found in the
Island of Fiinen, adding that several others are in the Copenhagen Museum,
one of them belonging to a large find of bronze-age antiquities in a tumulus

* Sir W. Wilde: Catalogue; p. 526, Fig. 403.
+ Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 1880-’81 ; Edinburgh, 1881; Figs. 10 and 11 on p. 273.
t Worsaae: Nordiske Oldsager; p. 60, Fig. 277.

110 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

in Fiinen. Bronze hooks were found in the foundry of Larnaud (Jura) and in
the hoard of Saint-Pierre-en-Chatre (Oise),* but the works in which mention of
them is made are not at my disposal.

Fia. 168. y Fig. 169.

Fries. 168 and 169.—Bronze fish-hooks in the form of baits. Germany.

There are in a museum at Liibeck (Culturhistorisches Museum) three fish
hooks made of thin sheet bronze, and having sharp points and somewhat fish-
shaped shanks. Mr. Christensen, who describes and represents them in the
article quoted on page 72,+ is of opinion that they were thus formed in order to
serve as artificial baits. Figs. 168 and 169 are fac-simile copies of two of his
rather uncouth illustrations. If these hooks were employed as baits, which
seems probable, it was chiefly their metallic lustre which attracted the fish, while
iron hooks of the same shape, on account of their less shining appearance, prob-
ably would have been useless. These Liibeck specimens, therefore, may have
purposely been made of bronze at a time when iron was the common metal.

Mr. Friedel describes a bronze-age dug-out preserved in the Provincial
Museum at Berlin. It is made of an oak-stem, four meters long and eighty
centimeters wide, and was found in a turbary near Linum, in the District of

* Evans: Ancient Bronze Implements; p. 192.

+ Deutsche Fischerei-Zeitung ; March 22, 1881; p. 95.

BOATS. 111

East Havelland (Brandenburg), on sandy soil covered by a layer of peat exceed-
ing three meters in thickness.*

Two Danish oaken dug-outs—or rather their remnants—in the Copenhagen
Museum, which probably belong to the bronze age, are represented in Worsaae’s
catalogue. Yet the distinguished archeologist is not altogether certain as to
their antiquity, for the word Broncealderen with an interrogation-mark after it
forms the heading of the page on which they are figured.+

Here I bring my account of prehistoric fishing in Europe to a close.

* Friedel: Wuhrer durch die Fischerei-Abtheilung; p. 3.

7 Worsaae: Nordiske Oldsager ; p. 66, Figs. 294 and 295.—On page 65 of his catalogue Mr. Worsaae repre-
sents in Fig. 293 a bronze-age coffin, consisting of the excavated half of an oak-stem with truncated ends. Below
the figure the word Liigkiste is printed, which means Letchenkiste in German, and corpse-chest in English. M.
Gabriel de Mortillet erroneously refers to it as a Danish canoe of the bronze age (Matériaux, Vol. III, 1867;

p. 43).

PART II.—NORTH AMERICA.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

While there is no difficulty in comprehending the term “ prehistoric,’ when
applied to the antiquities of Europe, the same word assumes an altered signifi-
cance in its connection with the artefacts left by the former inhabitants of this
country. Here, by general consent, all objects are considered as prehistoric,
which oceur in mounds and other burial-places of early date, on and below the
surface of the ground, in caves, shell-heaps, ete.—in fact all articles of aborigi-
nal workmanship that cannot with certainty be ascribed to any of the tribes
which are either still in existence, or have become extinct within historical times,
or, to speak more distinctly, within the recollection of the white successors of
the Indians. Thus, a collection of North American relics may contain specimens
of very high antiquity as well as others of comparatively recent date; yet there
is no way of suggesting accurate discrimination. Moreover, it cannot be doubted
that some, or even many, of the objects classed with our antiquities originated
after the arrival of Europeans in this country; for, though the natives were not
slow in recognizing the superiority of the white man’s tools and other implements,
and endeavored to obtain them by barter from the immigrants, the less favored
were still compelled to

ones among them—for not all could be supplied at once
manufacture, according to old usage, various articles, which, when discovered,
are placed in collections of North American antiquities.

It certainly would be a mistake to attribute aboriginal relics from any given
district positively to the Indians who occupied it when the whites arrived.
Though these natives doubtless left many manufactures on the soil of their
special country, it cannot be decided, at least not in most cases, whether an object
there discovered is to be assigned to the last occupants, or to invaders, or to pre-
decessors of a different lineage.*

If all these circumstances are taken into account, there arises a probability
that the one or the other object hereafter described by me may be of more or less
recent origin, and even post-date the advent of the Caucasians in this country.

* These observations refer immediately to the long-settled eastern regions of North America; but they can
with equal force be applied to the western districts which have lately been colonized by the whites.

R15 (113)

114 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

Was there a paleeolithic age in North America ?

During a number of years, Dr. Charles C. Abbott, of Trenton, New Jersey,
has published papers in which he describes rude implements found by him in
the undisturbed gravel-beds of the Delaware Valley at Trenton, and he finally
sums up his experiences, together with those of others, in the thirty-second
chapter of a late work treating of the aboriginal relics of the northern Atlantic
sea-board of America. The implements in question resemble in shape more or
less those from the drift of France and England; yet while the latter consist of
cretaceous flint, the material of the New Jersey specimens is argillite.* I have
seen but three of them, which were sent to me by Dr. Abbott, and these are
unmistakably fashioned by the hand of man. They were all found, he informs
me, by himself in the gravel-bluff facing the Delaware River at Trenton, at a
depth of thirteen feet from the surface. “The purplish-colored one was under-
neath a boulder and could never have been above it, since the deposition of the
boulder.” Dr. Abbott’s illustrations of Trenton implements likewise leave no
doubt as to the artificial shaping of the originals. He admits that, “having been
seriously misled by the various geological reports that purport to give, in proper
sequence, the respective ages of the several strata of clay, gravel, boulders, and
sand, through which the river has finally worn its channel to the ocean-level, he
has probably, in previous publications, ascribed too great an antiquity to these
implements, although what is now known to be a substantially correct history of
the various deposits in the river-valley does not dissociate these traces of man
from a time when essentially glacial conditions existed in the upper valley of the
Delaware River, though they occurred subsequently to the existence of the great
continental glacier, when at its greatest magnitude.

“Tt was not until the surface geology of the Delaware River Valley was
carefully studied by Mr. Henry Carvill Lewis, of the Second Geological Survey
of Pennsylvania, that we were in possession of all the facts necessary to enable
us to recognize the full significance of those early traces of man, discovered in
one of the latest geological formations of this valley.’’+

The conclusions drawn by Mr. Lewis from his investigation are, that the
Trenton gravel is a true river-gravel, and is the most recent of all the formations
in the valley of the Delaware River; that it is apparently post-glacial; and that
the stone implements of palzeolithic type, which this gravel contains, indicate the
existence of man in a rude state, at the time of its deposition.[ It remains to
be seen whether this is the last verdict in the case.

* Only one spear-head-like implement of flint has thus far been noticed. It was taken, within the city of
Trenton, from the gravel, at a depth of six feet below the surface.

+ Abbott: Primitive Industry: or Illustrations of the Handiwork, in Stone, Bone and Clay, of the Native
Races of the Northern Atlantic Seaboard of America; Salem, Mass., 1881; p. 471.

{ Ibid. ; p. 551.

DRIFT-IMPLEMENTS. 115

There has been discovered at Trenton, about fourteen feet below the surface,
the tusk of a mastodon, covered with partly stratified gravel and stones. Allu-
ding to this circumstance, Dr. Abbott observes:—‘ When we consider that not
only the remains of the mastodon, but those of the bison, have been found in
this gravel, and that within a few yards of the spot where the tusk of the mas-
todon mentioned by Professor Cook, was found, palzeolithic implements have
been gathered, one at the same, and three at greater depths, it is apparent that
we here have evidence of man’s contemporaneity, on the Atlantic coast, with the
large mammals mentioned.’ Bones of the reindeer also have been met with,
though sparingly, in this eravel.

Finally, Dr. Abbott strongly inclines to the view—not an unusual one—that
the Eskimos formerly extended far to the southward in North America, and,
indeed, were the makers of the rude tools found by him in the Trenton gravel.

Professor Henry W. Haynes, of Boston, who has studied the stone age for
six years in Europe and Northern Africa, lately visited, in company with Pro-
fessor W. Boyd Dawkins and other gentlemen, the region in question, and
became fully convinced of the palzeolithic character of the Trenton argillite tools.
On this occasion, it should be stated, several implements were taken by his com-
panions, either from the eravel or the talus on the river-bank, in his presence,
and he found five himself.

“It has been my good fortune,” he says, “to find palzeolithic implements in
Europe in several localities, both where they have been accompanied by the
characteristic fossil bones, and where these have been wanting. I have thus had-
the opportunity of making myself familiar with the general character of such
localities and the appearance of the country in the vicinity, together with the
nature and quality of the gravels in which the implements are found. I have
especially studied the eravel-beds of the valley of the Seine, in the vicinity of
Paris, and of the Tiber, near Rome, for several successive years, and in a very
great number of visits, and from both these localities I have obtained fossil bones
of the mammoth, the rhinoceros, the hippopotamus, the bos antiquus, the great
extinct elk, the horse, the reindeer, ete. Accompanying these fossil bones were
found the characteristic palzolithic implements. I have also visited the famous
locality of Saint-Acheul, and the well-known gravel-pits near Salisbury, England,
in both of which spots have occurred numerous finds of paleolithic implements,
accompanied by similar fossil bones. In another locality, near Dinan, in Nor-
mandy, where the pleistocene deposits no longer exist, as is also the case in the
valley of the Nile, I have found a large quantity of paleolithic implements
made out of quartzite. From these various experiences I feel myself warranted
in stating that the general appearance of the country and the character of the

* Abbott: Primitive Industry ; p- 482.

116 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

gravels at Trenton, New Jersey, present a most striking resemblance to what I
have seen in the various localities in the Old World to which I have referred.
There is the same rudely-stratified mingling of coarse materials marked by a
similar absence of clay. It is true that in the gravels of New Jersey thus far
not many fossil bones have been discovered, but only a few of the mammoth, the
bison, the reindeer, and the walrus, some of which, like the animals of Europe
under similar circumstances, have since migrated to the colder regions of the
north. But the fact remains that fossil animal bones have actually been dis-
covered in these gravels, and when we call to mind to what a limited extent they
have as yet been examined, we may reasonably expect more to be found hereafter.

“JT limit myself to a general statement like this in regard to the marked
resemblance of the locality, and the precisely similar character of the gravels at
Trenton, New Jersey, to what I have seen in many localities in Europe, which
have yielded true palzeolithic implements, and I leave in more competent hands
the discussion and determination of the true geological character of the gravels
of the Delaware Valley.

“Speaking then merely from an archzeological stand-point, I do not hesitate
to declare my firm conviction that the rude argillite objects found in the gravels
of the Delaware River, at Trenton, New Jersey, are true palzeolithic imple-
ments.””*

This is certainly a strong vindication of Dr. Abbott’s claims.

I have elsewhere expressed my belief that man is an exotic element in
America; but that the present American continent received its first population
at a very remote period, when, perhaps, the distribution of land and sea was
different from what it is now. The earliest immigrants, I further stated, may
have been so low in the scale of human development that they lacked the faculty
of expressing themselves in articulate language, as it is difficult to account in
another way for the totally diverse characteristics of the numerous linguistic
families of America.

In accordance with these views, I do not deem it improbable that implements
analogous in character to those of the European drift should occur under cor-
responding circumstances in North America.

I cannot express a similar opinion with regard to ‘“pliocene” man in
America. Admitting, for instance, the correctness of the reports on the polished
stone implements said to have been taken from a bed of Table Mountain in
Tuolumne County, California, older than the European drift, it would follow
that man lived in America in a polished-stone age, before the contemporary of

* Haynes: The Argillite Implements found in the Gravels of the Delaware River, at Trenton, N. J., com-
pared witk the Paleolithic Implements of Europe; Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History; Vol.
XXI, January 19, 1881; p. 136, etc.

DOUBLE-POINTED STONE IMPLEMENTS. iil

the mammoth in Europe fashioned his rude implements of flint. An inference of
such stupendous bearing should not be accepted without incontrovertible proofs,
and these, it seems to me, have not yet been furnished. If, ultimately, what now
appears almost incredible, should become an established fact, all doubts, of course,
will be removed.

While treating of prehistoric fishing in Europe, I was enabled to divide the
subject into different sections, devoting each of them to a special phase of human
existence. But such a mode of proceeding would hardly be applicable to North
America, and I prefer describing, in proper succession, such relics bearing upon
fishing as may be called prehistoric, according to the explanation of the term as
given on a preceding page.

The abundance of fish in the rivers and lakes of North America—not to
speak of the sea-boards—excited the astonishment of the early European colo-
nists, who found the natives well acquainted with various modes of fishing, which
could only have been acquired by long-continued pursuits. Taking them as a
whole, they practised fishing by spearing and shooting, with hook and line, and
nets of various kinds, and they even knew how to stupefy fish by throwing
intoxicating substances into the water. They constructed traps, weirs, fish-pens,
and fish-preserves, and, finally, navigated, for the purpose of fishing, the streams,
lakes, and seas with boats varying greatly in size and make.

All this will subsequently be set forth in a series of extracts from authors
who describe the natives of North America as they were when first observed, or
when their habits had not been materially changed by intercourse with the whites.

For the rest, I abstain from giving any details concerning Indian mode of
life. The indigenous American still belongs to the present, and it may be pre-
supposed that his characteristics are known to the reader of this work.

FISHING-IMPLEMENTS AND UTENSILS.

Double-pointed straight Bait-holders—Among the many thousand North
American articles of flint and other stone exhibited in the United States National
Museum there is not one to which the above application could with any degree
of safety be assigned. Only a few among them possibly might have thus been
employed; but these constitute a fraction by far too small to form a type, or, in
other words, to represent a class of objects made for a common purpose. Never-
theless I will describe some of them.

The original of Fig. 170, on the following page, is a chipped implement of
dark-gray jasper, found by Mr. Paul Schumacher near Rogue River, Oregon. It
is slender, and the points are rather blunt, apparently not from use, but in conse-

118 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

quence of exposure, the specimen showing a kind of polish evidently produced
by contact with other bodies. It looks as though it had been drifted in water.

He
ne
an

Fig. 170.—Oregon. (12885). Fic. 171.—Tennessee. (60539) Fic. 172.—Wyoming.

Fias. 170-172.—Double-pointed stone implements.

Fig. 171 shows the form of a somewhat similar object, in this instance
brought into shape by grinding. This specimen, presented by Professor W. A.
Kite, is not flattish like the one first described, but almost round in the cross-
section, and terminates in tolerably sharp points. It consists of a blackish kind
of stone, apparently argillite, and was found nearly opposite the mouth of Middle
Creek, in Greene County, Tennessee.

Fig. 172 is taken from the “ Fifth Annual Report of the Superintendent of
the Yellowstone National Park” (Washington, 1881, Fig. 16 on page 37). It is
not distinctly stated whether the original, which belongs to a series of stone
implements collected in the National Park by Superintendent P. W. Norris, con-
sists of flint or obsidian. This, however, is of little consequence, as the shape
alone is the noticeable feature, and that is certainly exceptional and suggestive
of the application here considered. The notches would have facilitated the attach-
ment of a line, and the implement, inserted into a fish and swallowed by a larger
one, could not easily have been disgorged by the latter. But, nevertheless, it
probably was prepared for a totally different purpose.

I give in Fig. 173 the delineation of a rather large polished implement,
found in Berks County, Pennsylvania, and presented to the Smithsonian Insti-
tution by the Hon. G. H. Keim. I figure this specimen for the simple reason
that it has been regarded by some as a bait-holder, an opinion in which I cannot
concur. The material is a greenish-gray argillite. The illustration shows its
form distinctly, and I have only to add that a cross-section laid through the

DOUBLE-POINTED BONE IMPLEMENTS. 119

middle would present a somewhat flattened oval. Iam inclined to regard this
specimen as a ceremonial weapon in which the usual perforation for the reception
of a handle is replaced by a groove. It weighs three ounces and a half.

Fic. 173.—Double-pointed grooved stone implement. Pennsylvania. (6627).

Straight bone rods tapering toward both ends are not wanting in the arche-
ological division of the National Museum. They were chiefly obtained in the
course of explorations of the Californian Santa Barbara group of islands and
their neighborhood, undertaken in the interest of the United States National
Museum by Messrs. Paul Schumacher and Stephen Bowers. These explorations
extended over the islands of San Miguel, Santa Cruz, San Nicolas, and Santa
Catalina, and various points on the main-land, embraced in the counties of
San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara. <A place called Dos Pueblos in the last-
named district has furnished many remarkable objects.*

Figs. 174, 175, and 176, on page 120, represent specimens of pointed bone rods
found by Mr. Bowers on Santa Cruz Island; the original of Fig. 177 was obtained
by him on Santa Rosa Island. Some of the specimens on exhibition in the National
Museum show traces of asphaltum in the middle. They are of a somewhat
compressed form and generally well made, and their number in the Museum is
sufficient to form a class. If they were grooved or notched in the middle, as
shown in Fig. 2 on page 13, I would have little doubt as to their use as _bait-
holders, though the grooves or notches are not absolutely necessary features. As

* The relics were found in graves as well as on the surface, and while many of them are evidently very old,
others betoken a more recent origin, and some of the latter have occurred in association with articles of European
manufacture, such as iron blades, objects of brass, beads of glass and enamel, etc., proving that they are referable
to the natives whom the whites found in possession of the islands and the neighboring coast. The islands have
been totally vacated by the Indians, the last of whom, a few in number, were removed, nearly fifty years ago, to
the Santa Barbara Mission.

Accounts of the explorations were published by Dr. H. C. Yarrow and Mr. Paul Schumacher, and more than
half of Vol. VII of the ‘‘ United States Geographical Surveys West of the One Hundredth Meridian, in charge
of First Lieutenant George M. Wheeler ”’ (Washington, 1879), is devoted to a minute description of the locali-
ties and the objects there obtained.

120 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

it is, they may have served in the manner indicated, or as parts of fish-hooks, or
in some other way not yet explained.

Fia. 174.—Santa Cruz Island. Fic. 175.—Santa Cruz Island. Fic. 176.—Santa Cruz Island. Fic. 177.—Santa Rosa Island.
(26237). (26237). (26237). (23680).

Alin

Fics. 174-177.—Double-pointed bone implements.

Fish-hooks.—It does not appear that fish-hooks entirely made of silicious
material, like those described by Professor Nilsson, have been found in
North America; but hooks constructed of flint or chalcedony and bone have
occurred in Greenland. Dr. Gustav Klemm describes and represents such a
specimen obtained from an old grave in that country. Fig. 178 is a reproduction
of his illustration. The curved bone shank and piece of worked flint are bound
together with a narrow strip of whalebone, and the line attached to the upper
end of the shank consists of twisted vegetable fibre.*

Another somewhat similar specimen from a grave in Southern Greenland
is in the Ethnological Museum at Copenhagen. It attracted the special attention
of Dr. Emil Bessels during a visit to that city in 1881, and the distinguished
artist, Captain A. P. Madsen, made for him a drawing of the object. That gen-
tleman’s design is here copied as Fig. 179. The shank, pierced with four holes,
and nearly eylindrical in its upper part, but worked flat lower downward, is
made from a bone of some quadruped, and shows a brown coloration, like bones
extracted from peat-bogs. The chipped hook consists of bluish-white chalcedony.
Both shank and hook were found together, but without ligature, this connecting
medium having yielded to the effects of decay. The re-uniting of the two parts

* Klemm: Allgemeine Culturwissenschaft; Werkzeuge und Waffen; Leipzig, 1854; p. 61, Fig. 101.

FISH-HOOKS. 121

by means of twine is the work of Mr. C. L. Steinhauer, Inspector of the
museum just mentioned.

2 g t

Fria. 178. Fig. 179. Fria. 180.

Fries. 178-180.—Fish-hooks composed of bone and chipped stone. Greenland.

Dr. Bessels obtained on the same occasion a very fine specimen from Green-
land, namely, a well-chipped piece of transparent bluish-gray chalcedony, which
apparently formed, or was designed to form, a part of a fish-hook of the kind
here noticed. Fig. 180 shows its appearance. This object is triangular in the
cross-section, the portion not seen in the illustration being flat and but little
chipped.

It is doubtful whether flint was thus prepared by the former inhabitants of
the present United States, to serve in the construction of fish-hooks, for not a
single specimen of the required form is to be found among the thousands of flint
objects in the National Museum. Articles of this description, however, appear
to occur in Germany, and a number of specimens derived from the Island of
Riigen, and thought to belong to this class, were presented for inspection by Mr.
Rosenberg during the exhibition of prehistoric German relics, held at Berlin in
1880. To judge from the description, they are not brought into a definite shape
by chipping, but are simply flakes (Spleisse) of suitable form, some of them but
little modified for the attachment to a shank. Their size being considerable, they
could only have served in the construction of hooks designed to catch the large
species of fish.*

* (Voss): Katalog der Ausstellung prahistorischer und anthropologischer Funde Deutschlands; p. 363.
R16

122 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

A similar statement is made by Mr. Christensen in the article already quoted
in two instances. He says there are sometimes found in Germany flint splinters
with curved points, occasionally fashioned at the thicker end for attachment to a
shank. These specimens are regarded by him as component parts of fish-hooks.
In addition, he represents a bone object of a form suggestive of the same use,
preserved in the collection of the antiquarian association “ Prussia” in Konigs-
berg, Prussia. I copy here his illustration as Fig. 181.*

Fic. 181.—Bone point of fish-hook. Germany.

After this short digression I resume the subject of North American prehis-
toric fish-hooks.

In the first place I have to allude to their great scarcity in the eastern
portion of North America, and to state that those which have been found within
that area are almost exclusively made of bone. They occur more frequently on
the Pacific Coast, especially in Californian latitudes, and there they consist either
of bone or of shell. I refer here to real fish-hooks, and not to relics which
possibly were parts of hooks. Bone fish-hooks are occasionally mentioned by
the early authors on North America, as a perusal of the “ Extracts” at the end
of this publication will show.; The hooks used by the Indians of Virginia are
thus described by Captain John Smith :—‘ Their hookes are either a bone grated
as they noch their arrowes in the forme of a crooked pinne or fish-hooke, or of
the splinter of a bone tyed to the clift of a little sticke, and with the end of the
line they tie on the bait.’ From this short, but eminently graphic, description
we learn that the Indians of a certain Atlantic district used fish-hooks made
entirely of a fragment of bone, and others consisting of two parts joined together.
The latter class of hooks is still in use among some North American tribes.
The Makah codfish-hook, Fig. 10 on page 15, is similarly constructed, and I
present, additionally, in Fig. 182 the form of a fish-hook used by the Kutchin
Indians, who inhabit the territory between the Mackenzie River and Norton
Sound. “The hooks,’ observes Mr. Strachan Jones, ‘are made and baited in

* Deutsche Fischerei-Zeitung ; March 22, 1881; p. 95.

+ See ‘‘ Extracts: ’ Captain Smith, Ogilby, Sagard, Kalm, ete.

FISH-HOOKS. 123

the following manner :—The pinion of a goose is taken, and the smaller bone is
sharpened and fastened hook-shape to the larger; a piece of fish-skin is cut in
the shape of a fish and sewed on the hook ; that part representing the head is at
the point of the hook; that representing the tail is where the bones have crossed
each other; a line is then knotted to the larger bone, and all is complete.’*

Fic. 182.—Baited bone fish-hook. Kutchin Indians, Alaska.

Prehistoric fish-hooks of this kind, as far as known to me, have not been
preserved. After the decay of the ligature the constituent parts of such a hook
would become separated, and, when discovered, their real character probably
would escape recognition in most cases. Mr. A. T. Gamage, of Damariscotta,
Maine, informs me that he has found in the artificial shell-deposits near that
place quite a number of double-pointed bone rods, which, he suggests, were parts
of fish-hooks.

I now pass over to a description of North American fish-hooks made of a
single piece of bone or horn.

Fig. 183 (on page 124) —The original of this bone hook was presented to the
National Museum by Dr. W. J. Hoffman, of the Bureau of Ethnology. It is as
simple a form of a fish-hook as could be conceived; there is not even a distinct
notch at the upper end of the shank, only a faint trace of one being visible. The
surface of the hook shows the strive produced by the scraping-instrument used
in fashioning it. Dr. Hoffman has furnished me with the following account
relating to its discovery :

“Traces of aboriginal settlements occur quite abundantly along the valley
of the Missouri River, north of the mouth of Oak Creek, at the former location
of Grand River Agency, Dakota. The latter stream (Oak Creek), emptying into

* Jones: The Kutchin Tribes; Smithsonian Report for 1866, p. 324; figure on the same page.

124 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

the Missouri from the west, has formed a point of the prairie-terrace, upon which
are visible numerous low heaps or mounds of earth and clay, varying from
several inches to a foot in height, and from two to ten feet in diameter. Some
of these consist underneath almost entirely of bones of the larger mammals,
while at various other points the soil seems to have been washed away, leaving
the bones, sturgeon-scales, ete., lying around promiscuously. The bones in no
instance presented the effects of fire, but always exhibited the sharp, irregular
appearance of having been cracked for the removal of the marrow.

|
be)

Fie. 183.—Dakota. (34840). Fie, 184.—Ohio (Madisonville). Fic. 185.—Arkansas.

Fras. 183-185.—Bone fish-hooks.

“Upon digging into one of these smaller earth-heaps, the fish-hook was
found in the end of a fractured thigh-bone of a buffalo. Fragments of pottery
were very abundant, while arrow-heads, hammer-stones (such as are used at this
day for driving down tent-pins, ete.), and small blue beads were not uncommon.

“Black Eye, chief of the Upper Yanktonnais, informed me that the Arikara
were defeated and driven from that identical spot by the Dakotas, under the
command of his father, in 1818. The hillocks present every appearance of having
once been earth-lodges, though smaller than found at this day at Fort Berthold.”

Fig. 184.—The original of this much-corroded hook was found in one of the
so-called ash-pits of the great cemetery near Madisonville, Hamilton County,
Ohio. The depressions at the upper end of the shank are the result of decay,
small particles of the bone having come off in that place. The hook is in pos-
session of the Hon. Joseph Cox, of Cincinnati, who kindly sent it to the National
Museum to be drawn.*

* The results of an exploration of this cemetery, carried on under the auspices of the Madisonvillle Literary
and Scientific Society, are presented in three illustrated reports by Mr. Charles F. Low, published in the ‘“ Jour-
nal of the Cincinnati Society of Natural History’? (Vol. III, 1880, p. 40-68; p. 128-189; p. 203-220); and Dr.
F. W. Langdon has given in the same journal (Vol. LV, 1881, p. 287-257) an account of the osteological charac-
teristics of the skeletons there exhumed. In addition, the subject has been treated in several articles. I subjoina

FISH-HOOKS., 125

Fig. 185.—A bone fish-hook preserved in the collection of the Davenport
Academy of Natural Sciences. Mr. W. H. Pratt, Corresponding Secretary
and Curator of that association, had the kindness to send it to me for examina-
tion. The specimen is polished on both sides; that not seen in the illustration
exhibits a portion of the marrow-cavity of the bone. The point is not very sharp,
and, owing to the curvature of the bone, not in the same plane with the shank, the
upper part of which shows some slight indentations for the attachment of the
line. Iam informed by Mr. Pratt that this specimen was taken, together with
a bone awl, from a small clay mound on the Craighead farm, Mississippi County,
Arkansas, opposite the mouth of the Big Hatchie River. The mound was about
two feet high, and three feet below its surface the skeleton of a boy, about twelve
years old, the bone hook and awl, some shell beads, and a quantity of fish-bones
and turtle-shells were found. Mr. Pratt learned these details from Captain W.
P. Hall, a resident of Davenport, who presented the fish-hook to the Academy.

Fig. 186 (on page 126).—The original was found by Mr. F. H. Cushing, of the
Bureau of Ethnology. It is made of deer-bone, and beautifully polished,
especially at the point. The shank expands a little at the upper end where
there are some slight grooves. Viewed horizontally from the lower end, this
hook shows in a slight degree the cavity of the bone. It was discovered
in an accumulation of débris, eighteen inches below the surface, near the centre of
an old circular earthwork in the township of Shelby, Orleans County, New York.
With it, Mr. Cushing informs me, occurred various other remains, such as broken
bones of animals, rudely-ornamented pot-sherds, flint implements, awls, spatulee,
portions of weapons and ornaments of bone and deer-horn, shell and stone
beads, ete.

Fig. 187 (on page 126).—A hook of larger size, remarkable for its straight base.
It shows the marrow-cavity of the bone on the side not exposed to view in the figure.
A slight contraction below the end of the shank allowed the line to be firmly tied
on. This apparently old specimen, of a yellowish-brown color, belongs to Dr.
John Sloan, Secretary of the Society of Natural History at New Albany, Indiana,

short notice from a letter by Mr. Cox :—

‘The cemetery is located in a dense wood of perhaps seventy-five or a hundred acres, which has been left
intact since white men took possession of the Miami country. The trees are very thick, from three to five feet in
diameter. So far as we have sounded, there are fifteen acres covered by these graves. We have exhumed about
seven hundred skeletons, and apparently the whole fifteen acres are covered with the same average number of
graves.as the space we have opened. Thus the interments would reach the number of ten thousand. The graves
are about two and a half feet deep, and under them, running down through hard clay, are circular ash-pits, as we
call them, three feet in diameter, and from two to six feet in depth. These holes are filled with ashes and earth,
inclosing different kinds of stone and bone articles: pipes, axes, arrow-heads, deer and elk-horns, worked and
unworked, bone awls and needles, and fish-hooks and harpoon-heads of the same material. We have opened over
four hundred of these in the cemetery. From ordinary calculation of the growth of trees on the graves, we esti-
mate the trees to be from two to three hundred years old. How old the graves are, or the ash-pits, or for what
purpose the latter were made, we have no conjecture.”

126 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

who obligingly loaned it to me for the purpose of having it drawn. The hook,
I am informed by that gentleman, occurred in the ‘Indian grave-yard”’ at
Clarksville on the Ohio River, two miles and a half above New Albany, nearly
opposite Louisville. The graves, being situated at a bend of the river, become

Fic. 186.—New York. Fre. 187.—Indiana. Fig. 188.—Ohio.

Figs. 186-188.—Bone fish-hooks.

exposed after the spring-freshets by the crumbling away of the bank, and have
yielded many relics, the commercial value of which is well appreciated by the
residents. Of late years, however, comparatively little has been found.

Fig. 188.—This illustration shows the form of a rather uncouth bone fish-
hook, which, nevertheless, bears a general resemblance to some of the lacustrine
hooks represented on pages 48 and 49 of this work. It has been figured by
Schoolcraft, who states that it was found within an earthen inclosure on Cunning-
ham’s Island, in Lake Erie (Ohio). ‘ Within these inclosures have been found
stone axes, pipes, perforators, bone fish-hooks, fragments of pottery, arrow-heads,
net-sinkers, and fragments of human bones.’’*

Fig. 189.—This figure, representing a large bone hook, is taken from Dr. C.
C. Abbott’s ‘« Primitive Industry,” before quoted.; The specimen is in possession
of Mr. W. Wallace Tooker, of Sag Harbor, Long Island, New York, and was
found by him in a shell-heap in the neighborhood of Sag Harbor. It is the only
object of this kind discovered by that gentleman in the course of his explorations
of shell-heaps in Long Island.

Fig. 190.—The original, a fine bone hook with deeply-notched shank, belongs
to Dr. J. F. Snyder, of Virginia, Cass County, Illinois. I am indebted to him

* Schooleraft: Historical and Statistical Information, respecting the History, Condition and Prospects of the
Indian Tribes of the United States; Vol. II, Philadelphia, 1852; p. 87; Fig. 4 on Plate 38.

+ Fig. 193 on p. 208.

FISH-HOOKS. 127

for a drawing of the specimen. ‘It was found,” he states, “some years ago, at
the base of a long mound on the edge of Mound Lake, in Cass County, in one of
the numerous heaps of camp-rubbish there seen, consisting of mussel-shells,
ashes, charcoal, and earth, interspersed with many fragments of pottery, flint
chips, and bones of deer, buffalo, wild turkey, raccoon, opossum, ete., the whole
covered with sand and silt deposited by the inundations of ages.

Fic. 190.—Illinois. Fia. 189.—Long Island. Fig. 191.—Ohio (Madisonville).

Fries. 189-191.—Bone fish-hooks.

“Mound Lake—like all the other lakes and sloughs of the Sangamon
Bottom—is merely a stretch of one of the ancient beds of the Sangamon River,
and communicates with it by a short outlet; and is now, as it probably was cen-
turies ago, the habitat of innumerable pike, buffalo, cat, and other species of fine
fish. I can find no evidence to sustain the idea that the ancient tribes of this
region understood the art of catching fish with nets ;* but this bone hook proves
that they practised at least one method of fishing.”

Fig. 191.—This hook presents a perfectly fresh appearance, being almost
white, and is of excellent workmanship and well polished. The upper part of
the shank, including that above the well-cut groove, is four-sided. The figure

* Dr. Snyder found no net-sinkers in that neighborhood.

128 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

shows a portion of the marrow-cavity of the bone. This specimen, found in one
of the Madisonville ash-pits or graves, was sent to the National Museum, with a
view to further my work, by the Hon. Joseph Cox. Its possessor 1s the Hon.
Samuel F. Covington, of Cincinnati.

Fic. 192.—Ohio (Madisonville). Fic. 193.—New York.

Fras. 192 and 193.—Fish-hooks of bone and deer-horn.

Fig. 192.—Another fine specimen from the Madisonville cemetery, and, like
the original of Fig. 191, owned by Mr. 8. F. Covington. This carefully-worked
and polished hook is somewhat flattish at the upper end of the shank, while
the remaining portion, excepting the curve where the marrow-cavity appears,
presents a roundish form. I have not seen any other bone fish-hook found in
the United States which is pierced for suspension. The hole is placed near
the extremity of the shank, and carefully drilled from both sides. This
specimen shows a yellowish color.

Fig. 193.—The figure, representing a deer-horn fish-hook, is copied from a
drawing kindly sent by the Rev. W. M. Beauchamp, of Baldwinsville, Onondaga
County, New York. ‘This specimen was found, in 1880, by a laborer on what is
called the Atwell Site, in Pompey Township, Onondaga (or Madison) County,
New York,* and is in possession of Mr. L. W. Ledyard, of Cazenovia, in Mad-
ison County of that state. The hook being provided with a barb, Mr. Beau-
champ thinks that it was made, in imitation of the European fish-hook, by an
Onondaga Indian in the seventeenth century. There was an earthwork and ditch
on the site, which has yielded deer-horn forks or combs, bone punches, awls of
deer-horn, clay pipes, some of them exhibiting curiously intertwined human

* «The site,’ says Mr. Beauchamp, ‘is commonly described as being on Lot 44, Pompey, Onondaga County,
but is more strictly in Madison County.’’ These counties, of course, are contiguous.

FISH-HOOKS. 129

faces, pottery with human faces at the angles of the rims, and many other objects.
The specimen here figured is the only regularly barbed fish-hook of aboriginal
manufacture known to me, and Mr. Beauchamp’s view as to its recent origin
appears very plausible.

In California, as stated, fish-hooks have have been found in greater number
than in the eastern part of North America.

1 i
1

Fia. 194. Fia. 195.

Fires. 194 and 195.—Bone fish-hooks. Santa Cruz Island. (26240).

Figs. 194 and 195.—They represent bone hooks from Santa Cruz Island,
which were obtained by Mr. Stephen Bowers. In these specimens the outer
curve is rounded, the inner rather angular until it reaches the shank, which pre-
sents a conical shape, and is destitute of any device for holding a line. The end
of the line was tightly wound around the shank and fastened on with asphaltum,
portions of which can still be seen in both specimens. Even the impressions
produced by the line are visible. The peculiar feature of these fish-hooks, and,
indeed, of nearly all other Californian specimens in the National Museum, is the
close approach of the curved point to the shank—a feature which actually has
induced some to doubt their use as fishing-implements. I hope I shall succeed
in removing these doubts.

Figs. 196 to 199 (on page 130).—These figures show the appearance of bone
fish-hooks of more developed forms. They were collected by Mr. Paul Schuma-
cher on the Island of Santa Cruz. In the original of Fig. 196 the end of the
shank is grooved a short distance on both sides, and farther down notched on the
outside, thus offering a firm hold to the line. Where the shank ends, slight traces
of asphaltum are perceivable. In the three other specimens the fastening of the
line was performed in a similar manner; but the groove on both sides of the
shank is carried around it. The four hooks in this group have a much fresher
appearance than the preceding ones, and in the last three the shanks are thickly
covered with asphaltum. The barb-like projection on the outer curve, which

R17

130 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

characterizes these specimens, probably was only intended to hold the bait in
place.

Fig. 196. Fia. 197.

Fie. 198. Fig. 199.
All 4
Fics. 196-199.—Bone fish-hooks. Santa Cruz Island. (18188).

The same feature characterizes New Zealand fish-hooks,* and it is observable
in two hooks from Arctic America, preserved in the United States National
Museum, and represented by the following figures.

The original of Fig. 200 is a large bone hook from Greenland, presented by
the Copenhagen Museum. This hook is unbarbed, and exhibits the outer pro-
jection, though not very prominently. The upper end of the shank is pierced
with two holes. The appearance of the bone indicates that this hook is rather old.

The other specimen, represented by Fig. 201, is barbed and provided with
a barb-like point on the outside. It was presented to the National Museum by
Dr. Emil Bessels, to whom it had been given by Captain H. C. Chester, of the
United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries. The latter informed me he

* See Fig. 215 on p. 137.

FISH-HOOKS. 131

had obtained it from Eskimos near Chesterfield Inlet, in the northern part of
Hudson’s Bay. This hook, which shows a peculiar contrivance for fastening the
line, namely, a cavity sunk from the top of the shank met by a lateral one, seems
to consist of reindeer-horn.

Fie. 200.—Eskimos, Greenland. (45903). Fia. 201.—Eskimos, Chesterfield Inlet. (72609).

Fias. 200 and 201.—Fish-hooks of bone and reindeer-horn.

There are modern bone fish-hooks from tribes of the Northwest Coast and
other northern regions of America in the Ethnological Department of the United
States National Museum. These, however, are composed of different parts, and
the originals of Figs. 200 and 201 are the only specimens consisting of a single
piece.

I now pass over to Californian fish-hooks made of shell.

Fig. 202, Fra. 203.

Fics. 202 and 203.—Shell fish-hooks. Santa Cruz Island. (26252).

132 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

Figs. 202 and 203 (on the preceding page).—Two hooks cut from the shell
of Mytilus Californianus, and exhibiting on both sides the natural surfaces of
the valve, which is from one-eighth to one-fourth of an inch in thickness. They
resemble so much the originals of Figs. 194 and 195 that a further description
is unnecessary. Traces of asphaltum are seen on the shanks of these hooks.
They were found by Mr. Stephen Bowers on Santa Cruz Island.

Fia. 204. Fic. 205.
Fries. 204 and 205.—Shell fish-hooks. Santa Cruz Island. (26252).
Figs. 204 and 205.—Of the same material, and also obtained at Santa Cruz

Island by Mr. Bowers, are the hooks represented by these two figures, which
show with sufficient distinctness in what manner the line was fastened.

Fra. 206.—Shell fish-hook. San Nicolas Island. (20406).

Fig. 206.—This specimen, cut from a piece of the Haliotis, is apparently
very old, yet still retains the beautiful iridescence of that shell. Both curves are
cut angularly. The point is broken off, and the upper portion of the shank
damaged. The thickness is about three-sixteenths of an inch. This specimen
was obtained by Mr. Schumacher on San Nicolas Island.

FISH-HOOKS. 133

Figs. 207 to 209.—In this group are represented three fish-hooks of Haliotis-
shell, obtained on Santa Cruz Island by Mr. Schumacher.

Fig. 207. Fia. 208. Fie. 209.

Fras. 207—209.—Shell fish-hooks. Santa Cruz Island. (20407).

Fig. 210.—A tolerably well preserved hook of Haliotis-shell from Santa
Cruz Island, found by Mr. Schumacher.

Fig. 210.—Santa Cruz Island. (18189). Fig. 211.—San Miguel Island. (29627).

Fics. 210 and 211.—Shell fish-hooks.

Fig. 211.—This figure represents a small specimen cut from the Mytilus
Californianus in such a manner that the original surfaces of the shell have totally
disappeared. The specimen, obtained by Mr. Bowers on San Miguel Island,
hardly has suffered from the effects of time, and shows the purple color of the
inner mass of the shell.—The barb-like projection on the outer curve, character-
istic of some of the Californian bone fish-hooks, is absent in the shell hooks from
the same region, at least in the specimens in the National Museum.

Mr. Schumacher discovered on Santa Cruz Island a grave which probably
was that of a maker of shell fish-hocks, for it contained the tools used in their
manufacture as well as the material in all stages of fabrication.

134 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

In Fig. 212 representations of a series of objects illustrating the process of
manufacture are grouped together. A piece of Haliotis-shell was first reduced
to a rude dise-form (a), and then pierced with a hole in the centre (b) by means

Fra. 212.—Series of designs illustrative of the method of making fish-hooks of shell.

of a four-sided pointed flint implement (c). The enlarging and rounding of the
hole (as shown in d) was performed with a double-pointed borer of hard, coarse
sandstone (e), and an ordinary flat piece of sandstone served to grind the per-
forated disc into a ring-like form (f). By the removal of certain portions of this
ring (hatched in g) with a sort of double-edged stone knife (h) and some further

FISH-HOOKsS. 135

touches a fish-hook (i) was produced. This brief account is an abstract from
one of the interesting articles published by Mr. Paul Schumacher.*

_ Allusion was made to the short distance between the point and shank in
nearly all Californian hooks, and it was added that on this account their suitable-
ness for fishing-purposes had been doubted. It is difficult, if not impossible,
to perceive how fish could have been caught with hooks of this form, unless it
is assumed that they swallowed both bait and hook. The latter, however, may
have served the double purpose of hook and bait. Yet there can hardly be
any doubt as to their use, considering that similar fish-hooks (or, perhaps
more properly, baits or bait-holders) are still employed by islanders of the
Pacific Ocean. In the following figures I represent two fish-hooks obtained
during Lieutenant Wilkes’s circumnavigation of the globe, and preserved in the
National Museum, with the other objects of ethnological interest collected in the
course of that voyage. The illustrations can be relied on as perfectly accurate.

Fra. 213.—Samoan fish-hook of shell with stone sinker. (3399).

* Schumacher: Die Anfertigung der Angelhaken aus Muschelschalen bei den friheren Bewohnern der Inseln
im Santa Barbara Canal ; Archiv fiir Anthropologie; Vol. VIII, 1875; p. 223, ete. (Also: Bulletin of the United
States Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories; Vol. III, No. 1; Washington, 1877; p. 42, etc.).

136 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

The original of Fig. 213, on the preceding page, was procured on one of the
Samoan Islands. It shows the hook, which is made of nacreous shell, connected
with the sinker by means of vegetable fibre, both plaited and twisted with great
care. The sinker is an entirely unaltered, somewhat porous pebble, apparently of
voleanic origin.

Fic. 214.—Fish-hook of turtle-shell (?). Serle Island. (8676).

Fig. 214 exhibits the form of a hook derived from natives of Serle Island,
one of the coral isles of the Low Archipelago, not far from the Society Islands.
This identical hook is mentioned by Dr. Charles Pickering, who belonged to the
scientific staff attached to the United States Exploring Expedition. Among
the articles obtained from the islanders, he says, was ‘a large fish-hook (perhaps

FISH-HOOKS. 137

of turtle-bone), in form and tie similar to those we afterwards saw at the Dis-
appointment Islands.”*

In the originals of Figs. 213 and 214 the point approaches the shank so
close that the idea of hooking a fish with them must be abandoned; and yet they

are actual fish-hooks, acquired, many years ago, by barter from islanders of the
South Sea.

Fic. 215.—Bone fish-hook. New Zealand.

Fig. 215, representing a fish-hook from New Zealand, is copied from an
excellent little work, entitled ‘The New Zealanders,” which was published as a
volume of “ The Library of Entertaining Knowledge” (London, 1830). I have
selected the figure from a group of fishing-implements on page 189. The hook,
it will be seen, exhibits not only the close proximity of point and shank, but also
the outside barb for fastening a bait. Nothing is said concerning its size.

For the purpose of further elucidation, I extract from Ellis’s “ Polynesian
Researches” a few passages bearing on fishing with hook and line among the
Society Islanders :-—

‘“They use the hook and line both in the smooth water within the reef, and
in the open sea; and in different modes display great skill. In this department
they seldom have any bait, excepting a small kind of oobu, a black fresh-water
fish, which they employ when catching albicores and bonitos. Their hooks usually
answer the double purpose of hook and bait.; Their lines are made with the tough
elastic romaha, or flax, twisted by the hand.

“Tn no part of the world, perhaps, are the inhabitants better fishermen;
and considering their former entire destitution of iron, their variety of fishing-
apparatus is astonishing. Their hooks were of every form and size, and made
of wood, shell, or bone—frequently human bone. — — —

* Pickering: The Races of Man; London, 1872; p. 48.

+ The italicizing in these extracts is my own.

R18

138 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

“The hooks made with wood were curious: some were exceedingly small,
not more than two or three inches in length, but remarkably strong; others were
large. The wooden hooks were never barbed, but simply pointed, usually curved

inwards at the point, but sometimes standing out very wide, occasionally armed

at the point with a piece of bone. — — —
“The shell, or shell and bone hooks, were curious and useful, and always
answered the purpose of hook and bait; the small ones are made almost circular,

and bent so as to resemble a worm. *

Of this special form are the Californian hooks represented by Figs. 194,
195, 203, 204, and others. They probably were intended to imitate worms, and
to be swallowed entire by the fish.

It appears to me that those ethnologists who claim an affinity between
the Californians and Malays might use the similarity in the fish-hooks among
these peoples as an argument in favor of their theory.

The former inhabitants of this country, it is well known, made to some
extent implements and ornaments of native copper, which they brought into
shape by hammering, their supplies of the virgin metal being in all probability
chiefly derived from the district of Lake Superior, where the traces of primitive
mining-operations are abundant. Among the copper articles hitherto discovered
are a few fish-hooks, harpoon-heads, and sinkers. Though I knew of the exis-
tence of several copper fish-hooks in the United States, I could obtain only one
specimen for inspection and representation. It belongs to Mr. Charles L. Mann,
of Milwaukee, and was for a short time obligingly placed at my disposition by
that gentleman. Fig. 216 shows it in full size.

Fra. 216.—Copper fish-hook. Wisconsin (Oconto River).

Mr. Mann describes its mode of manufacture so well that I will quote his
own words :—‘ It is made of copper, hammered thin, and rolled up just as one

* Ellis: Polynesian Researches; Vol. I, London, 1853; p. 145, ete.—The author speaks from personal obser-
vation, having been engaged in missionary labors in Polynesia from 1816-’24. The first edition of ‘‘ Polynesian

)

Researches ’’ appeared in 1828.

FISH-HOOKS. 139

would roll up a piece of paper by carefully beginning at the edge. It is not only
an entirely unique and heretofore unnoticed method of aboriginal workmanship,
but also in the nature of corroborative evidence that all our copper implements
were produced by hammering.” The swelling of the shank was perhaps pro-
duced intentionally, for the purpose of affording a hold to the line. Mr. Mann
has a copper awl fashioned by a similar process. ‘These two implements,” he
says, ‘along with others not made in the same way, and many unworked small
bits of copper, were found in loose white sand, near the mouth of the Oconto
River, Green Bay, Wisconsin. The consistency of the soil accounts for the
unusually good preservation.”

Considering that fishing with hook and line was commonly practised by the
North American tribes at the time of their first contact with Europeans, the
comparative scarcity of fish-hooks in the territory formerly occupied by them is
remarkable. May not the natives also have made fish-hooks out of substances
more liable to decay than bone, horn or shell, not to speak of copper, which was but
rarely used? The people of the Northwest Coast, for instance, make even at
present hooks for catching halibut and other fish entirely of spruce-wood; and
the Mohaves in Arizona, until lately, utilized bent cactus-spines as fish-hooks.
A number of these were sent to the National Museum by Dr. Edward Palmer,
three of which are represented in Figs. 217, 218, and 219.

al
1

Fia. 219.

Fie. 217.

Fires. 217-219.—Fish-hooks made of cactus-spines. Mohaves, Arizona. (24133).
He thus describes their manufacture :—

“Questioning some old Indians about their native fish-hooks, I found that
they used the spine of a cactus for this purpose. Having made a bargain with
one to allow me to see him make the hooks, he returned in a few hours with a.
plant and a number of the spines of Hehinocactus Wislizeni. He commenced by
placing the spines in water for a short time, in order to render them pliable, at

140 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

the same time wrapping the thumb and first finger of his right hand with rags.
He then made a small torch about half the size of one’s little finger by twisting
some pieces of rags together rather tightly. Selecting a spine from the water
and placing it between the ends of the wrapped thumb and finger, the torch was
lit and held in the left hand close to the spine, the workman dexterously changing
the position so as to impart the same amount of heat to all portions at once.
Occasionally he moistened the spine in his mouth. By this application of heat
and moisture he tempered the spine, and at the same time applying a gentle
pressure by the end of the wrapped finger, he was soon able to produce a very
fair and strong hook. As soon as a sufficient curvature is obtained, it is secured
by fastening a string from the point to the shaft.

“The fish of the Colorado River, eaten by the Mohaves, do not nibble the
bait, but bolt it, hook and all, and are killed by the wounds which are made in
their gills. This cactus-spine hook would be of no use in catching fish that
nibble, as there is no barb. The Indians fasten the bait below the hook before
throwing it into the water. The iron hooks obtained from the whites now take

the place of their old-fashioned ones.

This “bolting,” as Dr. Palmer calls it, throws some light on the applicability
of the Californian fish-hooks.

The eastern Indians, of course, could not employ cactus-spines, but they
had thorny brushes and trees, which might have furnished them the material
for fish-hooks.

Fria. 220.—Honey-locust twig with spine, cut to resemble a fish-hook.

By way of illustration, I present in Fig. 220 the delineation of a hook which
I cut from the thorn-bearing portion of a stem of the honey-locust (Gleditschia

* Palmer: Fish-Hooks of the Mohave Indians; American Naturalist; Vol. XII, 1878; p. 403.

HARPOON-HEADS. 141

triacanthos, Lin.), growing in the District of Columbia. This hook, consisting
of tough wood, probably would make just as efficient a fishing-implement as the
Kutchin hook figured on page 123, or as Captain Smith’s “ splinter of bone tyed
to the clift of a little sticke.”

The sinkers used in connection with line-fishing will be considered under
the general head of “Sinkers.”

I am not cognizant of the existence of any prehistoric North American
objects to which the character of floats can be attributed.

Harpoon and Arrow-heads.—As in the first part of this work, the description
of harpoon-heads follows that of the implements used in angling—a succession
by no means intended to convey the idea that harpooning was a later practice
than line-fishing. Man, in the opinion of many, hunted fish before he caught
them. Yet, a harpoon, more especially one with a detachable head, is a rather
complicated contrivance, and its later developments may, generally speaking,
post-date the invention of a primitive angling-apparatus. A double-pointed
bone rod attached to a line, though requiring a bait, is certainly a very simple
device, that may have been resorted to in the earliest times. The question of
priority, therefore, cannot be decided with absolute positiveness, and thus it
matters little whether I treat harpoon-heads after fish-hooks, or vice versa.

There can be little doubt that among the immense number of dart-heads of
chipped silicious material, which are found everywhere in this country, many
served as the armatures of spears and arrows used in the capture of fish. In-
deed, there is hardly a collection of such articles from which barbed specimens
suitable for such applications could not be selected; even unbarbed ones are
thought by some to have served as the heads of darts employed in the fish-hunt.
I could figure a series of such specimens; but in view of their well-known char-
acter, and of the circumstance that the use of any given object of this class in
connection with fishing is absolutely problematical, I refrain from presenting
illustrations.*

The Greenland Eskimos sometimes used, as discoveries in ancient sepulchres
have shown, blades of chipped flint or ground slate for pointing the detachable
harpoon-heads, somewhat in the manner shown by Fig. 110 on page 83. The
Eskimos of the more eastern parts of North America likewise provided their
detachable harpoon-heads with ground slate points; but at present they insert,
like the Greenlanders, blades of iron, in consequence of the increased facilities
of obtaining that metal; In general, however, their harpoon-heads are entirely

made of bone or walrus-ivory.

* Tam aware of the existence of a few stemmed flint points which are barbed only on one side. It appears

probable that they were the armatures of arrows used in shooting fish.
+ I have seen some harpoons from the Northwest Coast, in which the head terminated in a blade of sheet

copper.

142 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

We learn from the early accounts of North America that bone-headed har-
poons were in use among the Indians inhabiting the Atlantic region. Captain
Smith, in treating of the Virginians (1629), speaks of “staues like vnto Iauelins
headed with bone.” Josselyn (1674) describes the harpoon of the New England
Indians as “a kind of dart or staff, to the lower end whereof they fasten a sharp
jagged bone;” yet he states at the same time that iron points were superseding
those of bone. Roger Williams, in referring to the same Indians (1643), men-
tions “an harping Iron or such like Instrument.” The Southern Indians
employed harpoons made of cane until the middle of the last century, and,
perhaps, in more recent times.*

Considering that bone, on account of its toughness, was an excellent material
for pointing fishing-darts, the comparatively small number of old bone heads
thus far discovered in the United States would be somewhat surprising, if their

1
3

Fig. 221.—Maine (Casco Bay). Fic. 222,—San Nicolas Island. (20527). Fig. 223.—San Nicolas Island. (20527).

Fics. 221-223.—Bone harpoon-heads.

* Seo ‘Extracts: ’’ Captain Smith, Josselyn, Roger Williams, Brickell, Adair, Bartram, ete.

HARPOON-HEADS. 1438

scarcity could not be accounted for by their undoubtedly frequent loss in the
water of the sea, of lakes, and rivers.

Among the twenty-eight heads of bone and horn, presently to be figured
and described, twenty are provided with unilateral, and only eight with bilateral
barbs. I believe that most of them were armatures for fishing-darts, though I
would not attempt to decide in each case whether the specimen formed the point
of a spear-like implement or of an arrow used in shooting fish. The objects
under notice, being mostly cut from hollow bones, are generally flattish, and often
exhibit, like the bone fish-hooks, on one side a portion of the marrow-cavity.

Fig. 221.—This figure is reduced from one given by Professor Jeffries
Wyman.* The original occurred in a shell-deposit on Goose Island, Casco Bay,
Maine, and is described as a flattened piece cut from a long bone, and showing
the cancellated structure on one side. The point and barb appear to be rounded
by friction. This specimen is in the Peabody Museum.

Fig. 222.—A harpoon-head with a rather sharp point and a single barb. Its
lower end is tapering and fitted for insertion into a shaft. This specimen appears
to be very old, its surface being much corroded and bleached by exposure. Its
longitudinal curve (not perceivable in the illustration) renders it probable that
it was cut from a rib, perhaps that of a cetacean. Obtained by Mr. Schumacher
on San Nicolas Island.

Fig. 223.—A smaller specimen of the same character, found by Mr. Schu-
macher with the original of Fig. 222.

Fra, 224.—Unalashka Island. (16083). Fic, 225.—Unalashka Island. (16083). Fic. 226.—Maine (Damariscotta).

Fics. 224-226.—Bone harpoon-heads.

* Wyman: An Account of some Kjekkenmeeddings, or Shell-Heaps, in Maine and Massachusetts; American
Naturalist; Vol. I, 1868; Plate 15, Fig. 18; described on p. 583.

144 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

Fig. 224 (on page 143).—This figure represents one of a series of bone dart-
heads collected by Mr. W. H. Dall in shell-heaps on the Aleutian Islands. He
has published an account of his examination of these artificial shell-deposits,
accompanied by illustrations of the relics found in them.* _ Mr. Dall comes to the
conclusion “that the people who first populated the islands were more similar to
the lowest grades of Innuit (so-called Eskimo) than to the Aleuts of the historie
period; and that while the development of the other Innuit went on in the direc-
tion in which they first started, that of the Aleuts was differentiated and changed
by the limitations of their environment; that a gradual progression from the low
Innuit stage to the present Aleut condition, without serious interruption, is plainly
indicated by the succession of the materials of, and utensils in, the shell-heaps of
the islands; that the stratification of the shell-heaps shows a tolerably uniform
division into three stages, characterized by the food which formed the staple of
subsistence and by the weapons for obtaining, and utensils for preparing, this
food, as found in the separate strata; these stages being—l. the littoral period,
represented by the echinus-layer; II. the fishing-period, represented by the
fish-bone layer; III. the hunting-period, represented by the mammalian layer.’’+

This extract will suffice for my purposes.

The original of Fig. 224 was found in the lower mammalian layer, on
Ulakhta Spit, Unalashka Island. This single-barbed specimen has suffered
much from the effects of time, and lost its point. The lower part is comparatively
thin, and presents on one side a shoulder for fastening the line. It probably was
a detachable head.

Fig. 225 (on page 143) —A somewhat similar bone harpoon-head of much
fresher appearance than the one just described. It was taken by Mr. Dall from
the upper fish-bone layer of a shell-heap in Unalashka Island. Its point has been
artificially rounded, evidently for serving a secondary purpose. The lower part,
from the indentations downward, has a chisel-like shape, and it terminates in a
blunt edge. There is some reason for conjecturing that .the specimen formed a
detachable point.

Fig. 226 (on page 143).—A bone harpoon-point with two barbs, from a shell-
heap at Greenland Cove, near Damariscotta, Maine. Found by Mr. A. I. Phelps,
in 1882, and given by him to the Peabody Museum (No. 29234). It is made from
a piece probably cut from the leg-bone of a deer or moose, slightly flattened on
one side, and has the natural rounded surface on the other. The base shows
slight signs of wear, as if from insertion into a shaft. Thickness of the base

* Dall: On Succession in the Shell-Heaps of the Aleutian Islands; Contributions to North American Ethno-
logy ; Vol. I, Washington, 1877; p. 41-91.

7 Ibid. ; p. 49.

HARPOON-HEADS. 145

two-eighths of an inch. The figure is made after a drawing sent by Professor F.
W. Putnam.

ze
2

Fie. 227—New York. Fie. 228——Puget Sound. (13123). Fic. 29—New York.
Figs. 227-229.—Harpoon-heads of bone and deer-horn.

Fig. 227.—This harpoon-head, figured by Mr. E. G. Squier, shows two well-
defined unilateral barbs, and farther below two opposite notches for attaching the
line which connected it with the shaft. It is said to have been made of the ulna
of adeer. Found in Livingstone County, New York.* I am unable to state
where this specimen is preserved.

Fig. 228.—A well-worked, flattened bone point with three barbs on one side.
The lower end is damaged. Obtained by Mr. J. G. Swan, with another specimen
of nearly the same form, and likewise broken at the lower extremity, from a
shell-heap on Puget Sound, Washington Territory.

Fig. 229.—The figure is made after a drawing by the Rev. W. M. Beau-
champ. It represents a deer-horn harpoon with a good point and a number of
partly damaged barbs on one side. The lower extremity terminates in a blunt
point. The original, in possession of Mr. Otis M. Bigelow, of Baldwinsville,
Onondaga County, New York, was found in an Indian grave, excavated in gravel,
at Lock’s Reefs, near Elbridge, Onondaga County. This grave contained two
other harpoon-heads, to which reference will be made.

* Squier: Aboriginal Monuments of the State of New York ; Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge; Vol.
II, Washington, 1849; p. 79, Fig. 25.

R19 ~

146 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

Fig. 230.—A fine single-barbed harpoon-head of elk-horn, in an excellent
state of preservation. It measures nearly ten inches and a half in length, and
has a thickness of about half an inch in the middle. The broad lower part shows
two shoulders, but its base, instead of being worked thin, is more than one-
fourth of an inch thick. The head, nevertheless, may have been detachable.
This specimen was presented to the National Museum, with other valuable relics,

—S

oS SS SSE
SSS SHS

——
——
——————_

—=

Fia. 230.—New York. (31512). Fig. 231.—Michigan. (12329). Fia. 232.—Ohio (Madisonville).

Fies. 230-232.—Harpoon-heads of elk-horn and bone.

HARPOON-HEADS. 147

by the late W. M. Locke, of Honeoye Falls, Monroe County, New York. His
son, Mr. F. M. Locke, of Rochester, New York, informed me by letter that he
had found it himself about two miles south of Honeoye, on the old Indian reser-
vation called the Ball Farm. “It lay on the surface where there had been a
great many camp-fires, and the clayish ground was covered with ashes, preserv-
ing the spear and other relics that might have decayed, had it not been for the
ashes and clay.”

Fig. 231.—Another remarkable harpoon-head, about a foot in length, not
quite half an inch thick in the middle, and exhibiting six well-cut unilateral
barbs, partly damaged. It is made of a long bone of some large animal. The
perfect lower part is comparatively thin, and fitted for insertion into a shaft or
socket. This specimen, which appears to be very old (the bone having lost its
animal matter) was found, according to the Smithsonian record, near Detroit,
Michigan, and presented by Mr. J. W. Paxton.

Fig. 232.—A_ single-barbed harpoon-head of peculiar form, being broadest
at the base, and tapering gradually to the point. About the middle it is three-
eighths of an inch thick. The side exposed to view shows the strize produced by
the instrument with which the dart was finished; on the opposite side a small
portion of the marrow-cavity can be seen. In forming the base, a cut was made
all around to a certain depth, and the remaining part of the bone broken off.
At a distance of two inches and three-eighths from the lower end is an oval hole,
designed to connect the dart, perhaps a detachable one, with the shaft. This
specimen, which is of a yellowish color and well preserved, was found in the
Madisonville cemetery, and belongs to the Hon. Joseph Cox, to whom I am

indebted for its loan.

Fic. 233. (13004). Fig. 234. (16079). Fra. 235. (12999).

Fias. 233-235.—Bone harpoon-heads. Alaska.

148 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

Fig. 233 (on page 147).—This harpoon-head, of very old appearance, has
lost its point and is broken at the lower part, which shows a roughly executed
perforation. It was probably detachable. Obtained by Mr. Dall from the lower
mammalian layer of an ancient rock-shelter in Atka Island, Alaska.

Fig. 234 (on page 147).—A larger specimen, in a better state of preservation,
but likewise lacking its point. The base forms an edge like that of a blunt chisel,
and the hole is carefully drilled. On both sides a cavity of elongated oval form
is worked out between the hole and the barb. This dart, it appears, separated
from the shaft, when used. It was found by Mr. Dall in the lower mammalian
layer at Port Moller, Peninsula of Aliaska.

Fig. 235 (on page 147).—This diminutive dart-head, of excellent workman-
ship and fresh appearance, probably was not designed for practical use, but may
have served as the armature of a toy-harpoon, by means of which a juvenile
hunter qualified himself for the more serious work of later years. The point is
rounded and polished like the whole object. The base of the barb shows a
straight ornamental ineision, and below the blunt point a small nick has been cut
out. It is one of the specimens collected by Mr. Dall. He discovered it in the
upper fish-bone layer in a cave of Amaknak Island, Captain’s Bay, Unalashka.

ae
2

Fig. 236.—Maine (Hodgdon’s Island). Fic. 237.—Maine (Muscongus Sound).

Figs, 236 and 237.—Bone harpoon-heads.

Fig. 236.—A bone harpoon-head resembling in general character the speci-
mens just described, but derived from the Atlantic coast-region. It is probably
made from the leg-bone of a deer. One side shows the natural rounded surface
of the bone, the other its internal cavity. Thickness about three-eighths of an
inch. This dart was found in 1882 by Mr. A. T. Gamage in a shell-heap on
Hodgdon’s Island, Damariscotta River, Maine, and presented by him to the
Peabody Museum (No. 29279).

Fig. 237.—This harpoon-head has lost its upper part, but probably termi-

HARPOON-HEADS. 149

nated as indicated in the dotted restoration, which is justified by the fact that
there is a smooth cut at the place marked a. It was found in 1882 ina shell-heap
at Keene’s Point, Muscongus Sound, Maine, by Mr. A. I. Phelps, and is now in
the Peabody Museum (No. 29234). This figure and the preceding one were
made after drawings sent by Professor F. W. Putnam, to whom I am also
indebted for descriptions of the specimens. This dart-head, like that represented
in the preceding figure, appears to have been detachable.

3 1
a 2

Fic. 238.—Alaska. (9822). Fia. 239.—Michigan. (10054). Fic. 240.—New York. (34763).

Fires. 238-240.—Harpoon-heads of bone and deer-horn.

Fig. 238.—A specimen of ancient appearance, with damaged point and
base, and one blunt barb. It is rather thick in proportion to its size,
measuring half an inch above the elongated eye. Found near Stikine River,
Alaska, by Lieutenant F. W. Ring, U. 8. A.

Fig. 239.—This specimen, a bone harpoon-head with three unilateral barbs,
is likewise broken at both extremities. The two lower barbs are of peculiar
shape, being provided with a kind of shoulder. The side seen in the illustration
exhibits the natural roundness of the bone; the lower one is nearly flat. Thick-
ness in the middle nearly half an inch. This dart-head was found in an Indian
grave at Fort Wayne, near Detroit, Michigan, and presented by Dr. J. D. Irwin,
Wis. A:

150 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

Fig. 240 (on page 149) —A_ harpoon-head of deer-horn, tolerably well pre-
served, but unfortunately broken at the lower extremity. The point and the two
barbs are carefully finished ; the perforation, sunk in from both sides, is of irreg-
ular form. <A cross-section above it would form an elongated ellipse with a
shorter axis of nearly half an inch. Found by Mr. F. H. Cushing in a shell-heap
in Onondaga County, New York.

This dart is the last in my available series of perforated specimens made of
bone or horn, which, I believe, were mostly intended to separate from the shaft
when launched. It probably has been noticed that these pierced dart-heads have
all unilateral barbs; those with barbs on both sides, it will be seen, are not
perforated, but may also, in part at least, have been detachable. Perhaps it is
only owing to accident that none of the bilaterally barbed heads at my disposition
is perforated. The Eskimos of the Northwest Coast, it will be remembered, use
to this day walrus-ivory harpoon-heads with barbs on both sides and an eye for
receiving the line which connects the head with the shaft.* Some of the bone
points presently to be described may have been armatures for arrows used in

shooting fish.

py
2

Fic. 241.—New York. (6225). Fia. 242—Maine (Casco Bay).

Fries. 241 and 242.—Bone dart-heads.

Fig. 241.—A dart-head with three small barbs on each side, so placed that
they alternate. The upper side is rounded ; on the lower one the cavity of the
bone reaches from the broken lower end to the lowest barb. I would not venture
to say more concerning the use of this dart-head, than that it probably was
employed in the fish-hunt. Obtained in Ontario County, New York, and pre-

sented by Colonel E. Jewett.

* See Figs. 19, 20, and 21 on p. 21.

HARPOON-HEADS. 151

Fig. 242.—This figure represents a bone dart-head with bilateral barbs, two
on one side and three on the other. It is made of a long bone, showing the
internal cavity on one side. The pointed and barbed part is remarkably narrow
in proportion to the width of the dart, insomuch that the method of its appliation
is not quite obvious. This specimen, like the original of Fig. 221, was obtained
on Goose Island, during Professor Wyman’s exploration of shell-heaps in that
locality. It is in the Peabody Museum.*

Fic. 243. (13023). Fig. 244. (13023). Fig. 245. (13000).

Fies. 243-245.—Bone dart-heads. Alaska.

Fig. 243.—A very fine and well-preserved bone point with two sharp barbs
on each side and a broad flat lower termination for insertion. This specimen is
altogether the neatest North American bone dart-head that has fallen under my
notice, being equally well worked on both sides, which show a regular slight
convexity. Its length, however, is not more than two inches and seven-eighths.
Found by Mr. Dall in the upper mammalian layer on Adakh Island, Alaska.

Fig. 244.—A larger specimen of corresponding form, but less perfect work-
manship, and somewhat damaged in various places. The object is a litile curved,
apparently on account of being cut from arib. It was taken by Mr. Dall from
the middle mammalian layer on Adakh Island.

Fig. 245.—This dart-head has four sharp barbs on one side and three on the
other, the latter having all lost their points. Both extremities of this specimen
are likewise defective. A deep groove is cut out longitudinally, and slighter
grooves mark the places from which the barbs project. These grooves are in all
probability purely ornamental. The opposite side is worked smooth, but shows

* Figured and described in Professor Wyman’s article quoted on p. 1438.

5S, PREHISTORIC FISHING.

the cellular structure of the bone. The object was taken by Mr. Dall from the
lowest mammalian layer in a cave on Amaknak Island, Alaska.

1
2

Fia. 247. Fra. 248.

Fics. 246-248.—Harpoon-heads of deer-horn. New York.

Figs. 246 to 248.—These figures were made after drawings sent by the Rev.
W.M. Beauchamp. The specimens, all consisting of deer-horn, belong to Mr.
Otis M. Bigelow, already mentioned. The original of Fig. 246, broken at the
base, was found, with other relics, in a gravel-bed on Charles Bidwell’s lot,
Elbridge, Onondaga County, New York. The originals of Figs. 247 and 248
occurred in the same grave which contained the specimen represented in Tig.
229 (on page 145).

In conclusion, I have to describe the few ancient harpoon-heads of copper
known to me. They all belong to the State Historical Society of Wisconsin
(at Madison), which is particularly rich in prehistoric objects of copper, the State
of Wisconsin, on account of its proximity to the source of the virgin metal, having
furnished a large number of relics of this material.

Fig. 249.—A small dart-head, perhaps the head of an arrow for shooting
fish. Professor James D. Butler, in his jocose mode of expression, refers to it
as follows :—‘ We hope for special aid from Germans, for we have had it. Most
of our specimens bear the names of German finders. History will repeat itself.
Three great German inventions begin with the letter P., Printing, Powder, and
Protestantism. Let us have one more, namely, Prehistorics. But all nationalities
will aid us. They have. Our French inhabitants are few, but one of them, M.
de Neveu, of Fond du Lae, has just presented a copper quite unlike any other
in our cabinet. We call it a spear with a unilateral barb. Those like it have
been found in France and on the Island of Santa Barbara, and are now used in
Tierra del Fuego. Meeting with unequal resistance in water, it will not go

HARPOON-HEADS. 153

straight. So it seems of an absurd pattern, but it is found that if aimed at a fish
it will hit him, for, owing to the refraction of light, he is not where he looks as
if he were. One barb is then better than two, and we are the fools after all.’’*

bol
bole

Fic. 249. Fia. 250. Fia. 251.

Fries. 249-251.—Copper dart-heads. Wisconsin.

Afterward the Society was enriched with two additional copper harpoon-
heads of similar form, but much larger size. The illustrations representing them
were made after photographs kindly procured for me by Professor Butler.

Fig. 250.—A single-barbed copper harpoon-head, measuring nine inches and
three-fourths in length. It was found in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, in 1877,
and presented to the Society by Dr. John A. Rice, of Merton, in the same county.

* Butler: Prehistoric Wisconsin; Annual Address before the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, in the
Assembly Chamber, February 18, 1876; p. 18.—Fig. 249 is copied from one of the plates accompanying this

pamphlet.
R 20

154 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

Fig. 251 (on page 153) —Another single-barbed specimen, eight inches and
one-half in length. Found in the neighborhood of Fond du Lae, and presented
to the Society in 1876 by M. de Neveu.

Fre. 252.—Copper harpoon-head. Alaska.

Until comparatively recent times harpoon-heads were hammered out of
native copper by certain Indians of Alaska. There are several specimens in the
United States National Museum, contributed by Mr. Dall and Dr. T. T. Minor,
and one of them, obtained by the last-named gentleman from the Thlinkets on
Baranoff Island (Sitka), is represented in Fig. 252. It is a well-worked flattish
harpoon-head, three-sixteenths of an inch thick, with five sharp unilateral barbs
and an eye in the expanding lower part, and strikingly similar in shape to some
of the specimens of bone heretofore described.

I am indebted to Mr. Dall for the following details concerning the use of
native copper in Alaska :—

“The earliest ethnological fact recorded by Steller, the first white man who
set foot on these coasts, at Kayak Island, near the mouth of the Atna or Copper
River, July 20, 1741, was the discovery (among other things) of a whetstone
on which copper knives had been sharpened. The Atna River contains in the
gravels of its bed waterworn masses of native copper, of which I purchased one
(now in the National Museum) from the natives living near this river during
their annual visit to Port Etches, in 1874. They have been from time imme-
morial in the habit of bringing down the pieces of copper to trade to the coast-
natives, who made of them knives, arrow and harpoon-points, shields, and
amulets, specimens of which are in the collection of the National Museum, or
have been seen by me in use. The Indians about Sitka, after the Russians
became established there, discarded copper for iron, which they bought from
the Russians and from English and American traders. Occasionally they
obtained pieces of yellow sheathing-metal, which is harder than copper. But
the old implements were preserved with veneration or because they were ‘lucky’;
yet they have now mostly passed into the hands of collectors.

“It would be absurd for people who can buy iron to continue the manufac-
ture of implements of soft copper. As a matter of fact, its use was given up
very soon, wherever intercourse with the whites became habitual. In unfre-
quented localities near the source of the copper its use continued until lately.
It is now nearly or quite obsolete.”

NETS. ° 155

Nets.—I ain not aware that remains of nets, to which the term “ prehistoric”
can be applied, are in any of the collections in the United States, for causes
tending to their preservation, as in the case of the Swiss lacustrine woven fabrics,
do not seem to have operated in this country. A few meshes of net, however,
are said to have been found, with other articles, in the Mammoth Cave, Kentucky.
The reference occurs in a note accompanying a number of these objects (includ-
ing the net-fragment) sent by Mr. Gratz, formerly the owner of the Mammoth
Cave, to Dr. Samuel L. Mitchill, of New York. The note is thus worded :-—

“There will be found in this bundle two mocasons, in the same state they
were when dug out of the Mammoth Cave, about two hundred yards from its
mouth. Upon examination, it will be perceived that they are fabricated out of
different materials ; one is supposed to be made of a species of flag, or lily, which
grows in the southern parts of Kentucky; the other, of the bark of some tree,
probably the pappaw.

“There are, also, in this packet, a part of what is supposed to be a kinni-
conecke pouch, two meshes of a fishing-net, and a piece of what we suppose to
be the raw material, and of which the fishing-net, the pouch, and one of the
mocasons are made. All of which were dug out of the Mammoth Cave, nine
or ten feet under ground; that is, below the surface or floor of the cavern.’

“This,” says Professor F. W. Putnam, “is the only statement we have of
articles of this character being found in the Mammoth Cave, and it is very
probable that they are some of the missing articles belonging to the body found
in Short Cave.”+ He refers to the so-called “ Mammoth Cave Mummy,” which
has attracted so much attention in past years. ‘This desiccated human body was
found in 1814, if not earlier, in Short Cave, situated about eight miles from
Mammoth Cave, and had been taken to the latter place for the purpose of
exhibition. Professor Putnam has established these facts in the course of inves-
tigations made in loco.{ The body belonged formerly to the American Anti-
quarian Society, but is now in the National Museum. After the foregoing state-
ment, it is hardly necessary to add that the net-fragment is not among the articles
accompanying the body.

In the earliest works on North America the fishing-nets of the Indians are
mentioned, but not described. Cabeza de Vaca, the first Huropean who gave an
account of the interior of the country, refers in various places, though in a
transient manner, to the nets of the natives whom he met during his long wan-
derings. The Spaniards under Pamphilo de Narvaez, after their landing in

* Archwologia Americana; Vol. 1; Worcester, Massachusetts, 1820; p. 323.
+ Putnam: Archwological Researches in Kentucky and Indiana, 1874; Proceedings of the Boston Society of ©

Natural History ; Vol. XVII, 1875; p. 331.
ft Ibid.; p. 321.

156 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

Florida (1528), he says, found in one of the large houses, or buhios, a golden bell
among nets (hallamos alli una Sonaja de Oro, entre las Redes); and in speaking of
the Mareames, he states that if they wanted to marry, they bought wives from
their enemies, paying for each wife the best bow they could procure and two
arrows; but that in default of these weapons they gave a square net measu-
ring a fathom either way (7 si acaso no tiene Arco, una Red, hasta una braga en
ancho, i otra en largo).* His other references to nets are of little moment. The
two principal authors who have left accounts of De Soto’s expedition for the con-
quest of Florida (1539-43), Garcilasso de la Vega and the anonymous Portuguese
gentleman, called the Knight of Elvas, likewise say little concerning the nets of
the Indians. The latter relates, however, that the Spaniards, while at a place
near the Mississippi called Pacaha (Capaha, according to Garcilasso) caught
fish in a lake with nets furnished by the Indians.+ Later authors are more
explicit in their statements concerning Indian net-fishing, as an examination of
the “ Extracts” given later on will show.

Sinkers.—It scarcely need be specially affirmed that the natives of North
America, like the primitive fishermen in all parts of the world, weighted their
nets by means of stones. In our time the Indian and Innuit tribes of the North-
west Coast and of other northern regions of America use pebbles, either unaltered,
if of suitable form, or notched or grooved, as sinkers for their different kinds of
nets, and the same is done by whites in many districts of this country. Those,
for instance, who pursue the trade of fishing along the Susquehanna and its
North Branch, use stone sinkers for their set-lines and nets, the stones employed
by them being usually not notched or grooved, but having naturally two opposite
sides curved inwardly, around which a string can be firmly tied. They carefully
select the stones which present this form.

The original of Fig. 253 was given to Mr. F. H. Cushing by a white fisher-
man at Dunkirk, on Lake Erie (New York). It is a nearly circular pebble, not
quite an inch thick in the middle, and notched on opposite sides. The string
which connected it with the net is still in place. Such stones, Mr. Cushing
informed me, are prepared and extensively used for weighting gill-nets by fisher-
men along the shores of the great lakes.

Sinkers of this simple character were most commonly employed by the
indigenous inhabitants of North America, and they are represented in the
National Museum by specimens from Rhode Island, New York, Pennsylvania,

* Naufragios de Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, etc.; Barcia: ‘‘ Historiadores Primitivos de las Indias
Occidentuales;’’ Vol. I, Madrid, 1749; pp. 3 and 20.—The original work appeared at Valladolid in 1555.

+ Narratives of the Career of Hernando de Soto in the Conquest of Florida, as told by a Knight of Elvas,
and in a Relation by Luys Hernandez de Biedma, Factor of the Expedition; translated by Buckingham Smith ;
New York, 1866; p. 112.—There will be oceasion to refer again to this passage in another connection.

SINKERS. 157

Ohio, Tennessee, Indiana, Utah, California, Oregon, and the Aleutian Islands.
According to Dr. C. C. Abbott, they occur in New Jersey by the hundreds in the
valley of every creek and along the river-shores. ‘In the summer of 1878,”
he says, ‘‘a series of these notched pebbles was found in the wasting northern
shore of Crosswick’s Creek, about two miles from its mouth, at Bordentown,
New Jersey. They were in an irregular heap, in some instances one just above
the other, but in contact. They were twenty-two inches below the surface of the
meadow, which is composed of a fine, sandy mud, that has been slowly accumu-
lating at this point for centuries. There were seventy-three in the series, and
supposing them to have been placed at a distance of a foot apart, they would
have supplied a net just long enough to stretch across the creek at this point.’”*

Fic. 253.—Modern stone sinker. Dunkirk.

About ten years ago, a large series of such sinkers was sent to me by Mr.
J. M. M. Gernerd, who had collected them on both banks of the Susquehanna
River, near his place of residence, the town of Muncy, in Lycoming County,
Pennsylvania.

Figs. 254 to 257, on the following page, illustrate a group of such objects.
The smallest (Fig. 257) measures two inches in its longer diameter, and weighs
only one ounce; but I have one weighing not more than half an ounce. A
number of these small modified pebbles may have served to weight the bottom-
line of a net. Some of them, perhaps, were employed as sinkers in connection
with hook and line,

My largest specimen, represented in Fig. 258 (on page 159), is a flat stone
of irregular outline, eight inches wide across the broadest part, and one inch and
three-eighths thick in the middle. It weighs two pounds and fourteen ounces.

* Abbott: Primitive Industry; p. 2388.

158 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

This specimen is unusually large, and heavy enough to have served for weight-
ing a set-net.* The ordinary size of these sinkers is from three to five inches,
with a corresponding weight of from six to ten ounces.

Fic. 254. Fic. 255.

Fic. 256. Fia. 257.

All d.
Fries. 254-257.—Stone sinkers. Susquehanna Valley (Muncy).

* Such heavy notched pebbles have been noticed by Dr. Abbott. ‘In June, 1879,” he says, ‘ while relic-
hunting in the Delaware Valley, with Professor F. W. Putnam, of the Museum at Cambridge, Massachusetts,
the author found a very large notched pebble on the shore of the river, a short distance above the Water Gap, in
Monroe County, Pennsylvania, which, judging from the size and the fact of its having four notches, was used as
an anchor or set-weight. This example measures cight inches square, and weighs nearly five pounds. To secure
x net, which was placed in the stream, as gilling-nets and fykes are now set, such a weight would have been fre-
quently a necessity, especially where there was a swift current, as there is in the river at the point where this
specimen was found; but it is evidently impossible that such a stone could have been used, as one of a hundred or
more, in dragging a sweep-net through the water. Aside from their weight, stones of such size would constantly
be caught by obstructions in the bed of the stream, and thus render the free movement of a net impracticable.’’”—

Primitive Industry ; p. 241.

SINKERS. 159

Sinkers with four notches (Fig. 259 on the following page) also have been
found, though not frequently, near Muncy, and in these cases the notches are so
placed that the stone was encompassed crosswise by the strings or thongs which
connected it with the net. One of the specimens in possession of Mr. Gernerd
is even provided with seven notches.

ae
a Hae UN
a
oe
i

Fic. 258,-Stone sinker. Susquehanna Valley (Muncy).

The material of these sinkers is almost exclusively graywacke, a kind of
rock belonging to the geological formation of Muncy, and also occurring in
numerous pebbles in the neighboring creeks which empty into the Susquehanna.
The frequency of sinkers in this vicinity indicates that the Indians were much
engaged in fishing at this point. The Susquehanna is here about nine hundred
and fifty feet wide, very deep in some places, and well stocked with fish, such as
perch, pike, sun-fish, cat-fish, and eels. There existed formerly a shad-fishery
near Muncy, before the river was obstructed by dams. Formerly, however, fish
were still more abundant, and the locality, therefore, afforded the aborigines
great advantages as a fishing-station. The first white settlers found on or near
the site of Muncy a village of the Minsi or Munsey Indians, the Wolf clan of
the Lenni- Lenape or Delaware nation, and hence the name “ Muncy.” These
Indians probably made and used the sinkers found in the vicinity.

The notched flat pebbles here described consist of graywacke, as stated,
being derived from one locality. In North America generally, however, any

160 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

kind of pebble of convenient form was notched and utilized as a sinker, the
native fishermen availing themselves of the suitable material nearest at hand.

Fia. 259.—Stone sinker. Susquehanna Valley (Muncy).

There are other sinkers exhibiting notches not produced by blows, but by
cutting or grinding.

Fig. 260.—Tennessee. (59259). Fic. 261.—Mexico. (61035).

Fras. 260 and 261.—Stone sinkers.

Fig. 260 shows such a specimen from Tennessee, made of a piece of pot-
stone and provided with two deeply-cut notches. It was sent by Mr. C. L. Strat-
ton. I represent in Fig. 261 a nearly oval pebble, five-eighths of an inch thick in
the middle, and apparently consisting of fine-grained graywacke. The notches are
carefully ground, and form sharp angles. This sinker, presented to the National
Museum by Mr. August Shmedtie, of Washington, D. C., was found, with other
relics, in a cave near Santo Domingo, a place not far distant from Santa Maria
Petapa, on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Mexico. The cave was examined during
the survey of the isthmus in 1851, and has been described by Mr. J. J. Williams.*

* “Santo Domingo, a mile and a half westerly from Petapa, once constituted a part of the old city; at present
it contains 900 inhabitants, who annually produce a considerable quantity of vanilla, indigo, and sarsaparilla.
The chief attractive features of this vicinity are the mountain-caves, which merit some attention from their con-
nection with the past history of the indigenous people. The entrance to the principal cave, called that of Santo

SINKERS. 161

Sink-stones encompassed by a groove form a rather numerous class of North
American prehistoric relics. They are very often rounded pebbles, showing no
other artificial modification but the groove, which is mostly produced by pecking,
but in some cases by pecking and additional grinding. In soft material the
groove is cut out. Now and then the form of the stone, if not suitable in its
natural state, has been somewhat modified by art; and there are specimens,
especially small ones, in which the original surface of the stone has totally dis-
appeared in the process of fashioning it.

bol

aL
2

Fic. 262—Rhode Island. (17813). Fie. 263.—California. (18597).

Fics. 262 and 263.—Stone sinkers.

Domingo, is elevated about seven hundred feet above the base of a limestone mountain, a mile north from the
village, and is accessible only by a steep path. The mouth to this cave has an arch spanning eighty feet by twenty
in height, and the plane of its floor cuts the horizon at an angle of thirty degrees, until reaching a depth of
one hundred feet below the entrance. At the foot of this slope is a magnificent apartment, some three hundred
feet in diameter and fifty in height, with its sides ornamented with stalactites and stalagmites of every conceivable
form and variety. The floor is quite level; and at one extremity is a sparkling pool of clear, cold water. Be-
yond this ante-chamber, the cave extends into the mountain for a distance of more than two thousand feet, some-
times expanding into large halls, or forming regular arched passage-ways, several hundred feet in length, alter-
nately ascending and descending into ridges and valleys. On the walls, at the extreme end of the caye, are seve-
ral circular paintings, rudely executed with red ochre, and probably intended to represent the sun and moon.
There are also several representations of the human hand, done in black. Immediately fronting these drawings,
in the floor of the cave, is a small aperture through which, by means of ropes, access is obtained to an apartment
beneath. In this are fragments of arrow-heads, human bones, and antique pottery.”—The Isthmus of Tehuan-
tepec: being the Results of a Survey for a Railroad to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, made by the Scientific
Commission under the Direction of Major J. G. Barnard, U. S. Engineers; New York, 1852; p. 243, etc.
R21

162 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

The pebbles out of which, as stated, such sinkers are made, generally present
a more or less compressed oval form, and vary in size from Jess than an inch to
six inches and more in the greater diameter. Most of these specimens in the
National Museum, particularly the larger ones, have been obtained from the New
England States; Oregon has furnished quite a number cf small ones, and the
others came from Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Ohio, Kentucky, the District of Co-
lumbia, and California.

Fig. 262 (on page 161).—A large pebble of oval outline, measuring two
inches and three-fourths in its thickest part, and surrounded by a pecked groove.
The material is a granitic rock, in which feldspar prevails. This specimen was
found at Tiverton, Newport County, Rhode Island, and belongs to a collection of
New England relics obtained from Mr. J. H. Clark.

Fig. 263 (on page 161).—A specimen of similar form, but of greater thick-
ness, being nearly circular in the section crossing the groove, which is rather
rudely pecked, and forms the only alteration of the sandstone pebble. Found
at Dos Pueblos, California, by Mr. Schumacher.

2 2

Fic. 264.—Massachusetts. (17818). Fic. 265.—Rhode Island. (17834).

Fias. 264 and 265.—Stone sinkers.
Fig. 264.—This specimen shows a carefully pecked groove, and its longitu-
dinal sides also have been shaped by pecking. It has in the middle (near the
groove) a thickness of two anda half inches. The material is like that of the
original of Fig. 262. From Chilmark, Island of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachu-
setts. Clark collection.
Fig. 265.—A smaller object of the same shape and material. The groove
appears to be the only modification of the pebble. From Newport, Rhode
Island. Clark collection.

SINKERS. 163

Fig. 266.—A smooth gneissoid pebble, grooved and shaped at the shorter
sides by pecking. Thickness an inch and five-eighths. [From Wickford, Wash-
ington County, Rhode Island. Clark collection.

Fra. 266. (17846). Fic. 267. (17834).

Fics. 266 and 267.—Stone sinkers. Rhode Island.

Fig. 267.—This sinker is derived from the same locality. It exhibits two
grooves crossing each other, and appears to have been shaped altogether by
artificial means. Thickness an inch and one-half. The material is a garnetiferous
mica-schist. Clark collection.

LENNY
NO
RS

i
2

Fic. 268.—Rhode Island. (17814). Fia. 269.—Georgia. (10473).

Fries. 268 and 269.—Stone sinkers.

Fig. 268.—A rather smooth pebble, syenitic in character, but containing very
little hornblende. Its form is that of a slightly flattened globe. The groove
shows traces of grinding. Found by Mr. Clark at Tiverton, Rhode Island.

Fig. 269.—A piece of compact potstone, worked into an approximately
globular form, and provided with a narrow, deep groove, produced by cutting.

164 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

Found in the neighborhood of Milledgeville, Georgia, and sent by Mr. W.
McKinley.

Fria. 270.—Oregon. (13222). Fig. 271.—Oregon. (12888). Fic. 272.—California. (12255). Fia. 273—Georgia, (24294).
All 3
2°

Figs. 270-273.—Stone sinkers.

Fig. 270.—This is a small oval sandstone pebble, with a groove produced by
grinding. The specimen was found in Oregon, and presented by Mr. A. W. Chase.

Fig. 271.—Another specimen from Oregon, of more elongated shape, and
ornamented with incised lines. The material is fine-grained sandstone. It was
sent by Mr. Schumacher. There are several small unornamented specimens of
the same form, likewise found in Oregon, in the National Museum.

Fig. 272.—This object, obtained by Dr. H. C. Yarrow at La Patera, Santa
Barbara County, California, consists of greenstone and is carefully worked into
a bi-conoid shape, and polished. The narrow groove is rather shallow. A sim-
ilar specimen from Ohio, of more elongated form, and provided with a somewhat
deeper groove, has been figured by Messrs. Squier and Davis.* It consists of
hematite. A specimen of specular iron ore, almost identical in form with that
just mentioned, but a trifle larger, and likewise from Ohio, is in the National
Museum. Being very heavy, it would make an excellent sinker for a fishing-line.

Fig. 273.—The original, carefully made of chlorite, has the form of a
sinker, but is almost too small and light for that application. Perhaps it served
as an ornament. Sent from Georgia by Mr. M. F. Stephenson.

1
3

Fia. 274. Fia. 275.

Fies. 274 and 275.—Stone sinkers. Georgia.

Fig. 274.—This specimen belongs to a class of sinkers quite frequent in

* Squier and Davis: Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley ; Vol. I of Smithsonian Contributions to
Knowledge; Washington, 1848; p. 235, Fig. 3 (erroneously marked as Fig. 5). Also figured in Stevens’s “‘ Flint
Chips”; London, 1870; p. 601. The specimen is now in the Blackmore Museum, at Salisbury, England.

SINKERS. 165

Georgia. They are made of pieces of potstone and have no definite forms, being
recognizable as sinkers only by the groove that surrounds them. Colonel Charles
C. Jones has drawn particular attention to these relics.* Indeed, the original of
Fig. 274 was presented to me by that gentleman, who found it, with many objects
of a similar character, in a relic-bed at the junction of the Great Kiokee Creek
and the Savannah River, in Columbia County of the above-named state.

Fig. 275.—A smaller specimen, perhaps used as a sinker for a fishing-line.
It was found by Colonel Jones on the right bank of Keg Creek, near its confluence
with the Savannah, in Columbia County, and belongs to his collection,

He also found in Georgia notched potstone sinkers (like the original of Fig.
260), and quite a number of perforated ones, made of the same easily-worked
material. These latter generally consist of flat, smooth pieces of indefinite, but
mostly roundish, outline, which are an inch or less in thickness, and measure
from three to six inches in diameter. Each has a single perforation, either in
the centre or near the edge of the stone. The holes are usually drilled from two
sides, and narrowing in the middle, where they measure about half an inch in
diameter. Specimens of this kind have been found almost in all parts of the
United States where potstone occurs ; but they were also made of other materials.

Fie. 276.—Stone sinker. North Carolina.

Fig. 276.—A specimen of the class of relics usually considered as sinkers.
It is a water-worn, flat piece of potstone, approaching an oval in outline, and not
quite an inch thick near the hole, which is placed an inch and three-fourths from
the broader end, and drilled from both sides. It was obtained in Mitchell
County, North Carolina, and presented by General J. T. Wilder.

* Jones: Antiquities of the Southern Indians, particularly of the Georgia Tribes ; New York, 1873; p. 338.

166 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

Fig. 277.—In this rather irregular piece of potstone the carelessly drilled
hole is placed nearly in the centre. It was found in the bottom of the Oconee
River, in Putnam County, Georgia, and presented by Mr. McKinley.

bole
Ie

Fia. 277.—Georgia. (28061). Fic. 278.—Massachusetts. (17849).

Fras. 277 and 278.—Stone sinkers.

Fig. 278.—A very flat, smooth pebble of oval shape, pierced with a round
hole near the edge. The perforation was sunk from both sides, and the slanting
cavities show traces of additional grinding. This specimen, consisting of a kind
of potstone of very compact structure, probably served as a sinker. From
Middleborough, Plymouth County, Massachusetts. It was obtained from Mr.
Clark.

Fic. 279.—Stone sinker (?). California. (18300).

Fig. 279.—One of the many pierced stone dises from the Santa Barbara
group of islands, collected for the National Museum by Messrs. Schumacher,
Bowers, and Harford. It is a flat pebble of micaceous schist, having in the

SINKERS. 167

centre a perforation, flaring on both sides, and carefully finished by grinding.
Thickness in the middle seven-eighths of an inch. Sent by Mr. Schumacher
from Santa Cruz Island. This object would have done good service as a sinker,
and may have been employed as such. It is known that the Indians of that
region used seine-nets.

Another class of sinkers consists of egg-shaped or roundish pebbles, per-
forated near the edge with an oblique hole, which is drilled from two sides, and
generally forms an obtuse angle where the perforations meet. Such specimens
are rare; but they occur in sufficient number to constitute a type. Those which
have fallen under my notice were rather small, and evidently designed for sinking
fishing-lines.

ds
3

Fig. 280.—Ohio. (12198). Fic. 281—Eskimos, Arctic America. (10117).

Fies. 280 and 281.—Stone sinkers.

Fig. 280.—A specimen of this kind from Ohio. It is made of a sandstone
pebble. Presented by Mr. T. Rhodes. In this specimen the perforations are
larger than in others which I have seen.

Fig. 281.—An Eskimo sinker, made of a small, roundish quartzite pebble,
and showing a similar perforation. There are slight grooves extending from the
orifices across the corresponding sides of the stone. Obtained by Captain C. F.
Hall. If there were any doubts as to the application of the original of Tig.
280, and of similar specimens, the character of this Eskimo sinker would set
them at rest.

I now pass over to the description of a numerous and well-known class of
North American relics to which several names have been given, and different
purposes assigned. In view of their varied shapes, it is rather difficult to define
the character of these objects, which are known as pendants, plumbs, plummets,
sinkers, ete. Most of them may be designated as pear-shaped, though that
expression must not be taken in its strictest sense. They consist of red or brown
hematite, specular iron, quartzite, serpentine, greenstone, and other heavy
materials capable of a good polish. Suspension was in many cases facilitated
by a groove, a knob, or a perforation at one end, generally the more tapering
one; some of them, however, exhibit forms requiring other methods of fastening.

168 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

Many of these objects show really elegant forms, are fashioned with the utmost
precision, and beautifully polished; and hence they were formerly, when com-
paratively few had been collected, and their wide distribution was not yet known,
regarded as articles of ornamental character, as, for instance, by Messrs. Squier
and Davis.* Mr. J. W. Foster is inclined to consider them as weights used in
weaving, “to keep the thread taut,” and tries also other explanations, none of
which carries conviction with it.y The opinion that they were used by the mound-
builders as plumbs to aid in the construction of earthworks is hardly tenable,
for they are found as well in districts where these monuments abound, as in such
where they are entirely absent. A close examination of the large series of such
objects in the United States National Museum has led me to consider them as
sinkers for fishing-lines, a view which does not exclude the possibility that some
of them may have been differently used. Such relics occur throughout the whole
breadth of the United States, from New England to California, and the specimens
obtained from this extensive territory show, notwithstanding the variety of their
forms, a conformity in general character, which, according to my judgment, points
to the same mode of application.

The theory of their use as sinkers is met by the objection that too much care
has been bestowed on the manufacture of many of them to risk their loss while
employed. But this argument can easily be overcome by an examination of the
angling-implements still in use among uncivilized, yet somewhat advanced, tribes.
These people take great pains in the production of their weapons and other
accoutrements, as any one can perceive who devotes his attention to a collection
of such articles. The western Eskimos, for instance, excel in the production of
fishing-tackle of every kind, and I will mention, with special reference to the
question here treated, that they employ at the present time carefully-made pear-
shaped line-sinkers of stone and ivory, and risk to lose them while angling;
and if, by accident, they are deprived of them, they make new ones.

An elongated pear-shape, it must be admitted, is the form best adapted for a
line-sinker, and, indeed, is commonly given to the leaden sinkers found in every
hardware-store, where apparatus for angling is sold.

The sinkers which I am now about to describe mostly would present a
circular horizontal section, and any deviation from this form will be mentioned.

Fig. 282.—A specimen made of dark-greenish argillite, regular in outline,
and well polished. Found in a mound in Licking County, Ohio, and presented
by Mr. W. Anderson.

Fig. 283.—A. larger specimen of similar form, made of specular iron, and
carefully polished. From Hancock County, Lllinois. Presented by Mr. M.
Tandy.

* Squier and Davis: Ancient Monuments; p. 235.
} Foster: Prehistoric Races of the United States of America; Chicago, 1873; p. 230, ete.

SINKERS. 169

As these two specimens are not specially prepared for the attachment of the
line, it must be assumed that it passed around the tapering ends and along
the sides of the objects. This operation was easily performed, as I have found
out by experiment.

Fie. 282.—Ohio. (11486). Fie. 283.—Illinois. (59580). Fic. 284.—California. (23662). Fro. 285.—Louisiana. (10624).

Figs. 282-285.—Stone sinkers.

Fig. 284.—A specimen of very slender form, made of fine-grained mica-
schist. The surface is tolerably smooth, but not polished. Both ends are covered
with asphaltum, which shows the impression of strings. Obtained by Mr. Bowers
on Santa Rosa Island, California. There are other Californian specimens of the
same kind in the National Museum, some of them likewise encrusted with
asphaltum at the extremities, and one of them, moreover, has a distinct groove
passing around the more pointed end. It measures more than eight inches in
length.

Fig. 285.—A cast of an apparently well-polished stone object, which was in
1871 in the Louisiana State Seminary, at Baton Rouge. It does not strictly
belong to the kind of relics just described, being provided with a smooth, nearly
semi-circular indentation at the lower part; but I notice it in connection with
these specimens, because it comes nearest to them in other respects. The inden-
tation would have presented a firm hold for the line. However, I am not at all
convinced that it really was a sinker, as it may have been a tool for rounding
and smoothing articles of yielding material, such as wood, ete.

R 22

170 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

The next grcup shows four sinkers encircled by a groove near the narrower

extremity.

Fia. 286.—Tennessee. Fig. 287.—Louisiana. Fig. 288.—Tennessee. Fia. 289.—Missouri.
(16739). (60640). (34521). (35474).

All 2.

Frias. 286-289.—Stone sinkers,

Fig. 286.—This specimen is made of a brown ferruginous stone, neither
hematite nor clay-iron stone, and softer than ferruginous quartz. It exhibits a
tolerably regular pear-shape, is slightly truncated at the upper end, and polished.
From Tennessee. Presented by the Rev. E. H. Randle.

Fig. 287.—A pear-shaped sinker with somewhat rounded apex, from which
the groove is farther distant than in the other specimens of similar form. It
consists of yellowish-brown quartzite. The object is regularly shaped, and its
surface smoothed. It was found in Morehouse Parish, Louisiana, and belongs
to a series of sinkers and other relics presented to the National Museum by Mr.
B. H. Brodnax, of Plantersville, in Morehouse Parish.

Fig. 288.—This specimen, obtusely pointed at both ends, is made of specular
iron, and highly polished. Like other sinkers of this kind, yet to be described,
it is as symmetrical in form as though it had been turned in a lathe. Obtained
in Carroll County, Tennessee, and presented by Mr. Randle.

Fig. 289.—This object, made of red hematite, resembles in shape the original
of Fig. 288, but is more slender, and not so well polished. It was found in
Saint Charles County, Missouri, and sent by Mr. G. A. Slatery.

The following series comprises five sinkers truncated at the upper end.

Fig. 290.—A quartzite sinker found near Tampa Bay, Florida. It is of a
flattened pear-shape, and though tolerably well worked, appears somewhat rude,
when compared with the other specimens of this group. Sent by Mr. 8. T.
Walker.

Tig. 291.—This specimen, of elegant form and good workmanship, consists
of brown clay-iron stone, composed of concentric layers, the outer of which has

SINKERS. 171

become detached in some places. From a shell-deposit a few miles north of
Mobile, Alabama, between the Mobile and Tensas Rivers. Presented by Mr.
K. M. Cunningham.

Fic. 290.—Florida. (35858). Fia. 291.—Alabama. (30893). Fig. 292.—West Virginia. (60745).

Fig. 293.—Louisiana. (29178). Fig. 294.—Illinois. (60322).
All 2.

Fics. 290-294.—Stone sinkers.

Fig. 292.—The material of this most carefully fashioned and polished sinker
is specular iron. Found thirty feet below the surface, at Huntington, in Cabell
County, West Virginia. Presented by Mr. W. J. Haller.

Fig. 293—A larger specimen of similar form and excellent finish, and like-
wise composed of specular iron. It belongs to the series of sinkers from More-
house Parish, Louisiana, sent by Mr. Brodnax.

Fig. 294.—Another specimen of absolutely symmetrical and tasteful shape.
It is made of whitish limestone. About an inch and a half below the flattened
upper extremity is a small hole filled with oxidized copper, probably the end of
the drill, which broke during the operation. On the opposite side, but only one
inch below the narrow end, is another hole of the same diameter, shallow and
without any traces of copper. It is not quite evident for what purpose these

172 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

holes were drilled, unless it was with a view to ornamentation. From a mound
in Henderson County, Illinois. Presented by Mr. M. Tandy.*

The specimens figured next are of rather heterogeneous shapes, but have
the groove in common.

Fig. 295.—Florida. (30120). Fig. 296.—Florida. (30119). Fic. 297.—Ohio. (7247). Fia. 298.—Ohio. (7790).

Fics. 295-298.—Stone sinkers.

Fig. 295.—This object, consisting of a dark-colored serpentine-like material,
is of regular outline, and polished. The part above the groove has a conoid form.
It was found in Manatee County, Florida, and sent by Mr. J. P. Wall.

Fig. 296.—A specimen derived from the same locality, also presented by Mr.
Wall. It is of a very graceful, slender form, contracting below the groove, and
terminating in a conoid above it. The surface is beautifully polished, and
entirely free of scratches and other marks indicative of use. The material is
like that of the original of Fig. 295. »

* This mound, located a mile and a half from Dallas City, in Hancock County, Illinois, is remarkable for
the abundance of human remains and artefacts it contained; but having been dug into by different parties, a
minute record of the manner of their disposition is not extant. More than a hundred skeletons are said to have
been inclosed in this mound; a tree, twenty inches in diameter, had spread its roots among the bones, and impeded
the operations, until removed. The bodies, all belonging to adults, had been placed closely together, as it
seemed, in a doubled-up position. Curiously enough, many of the skulls exhibit a small round perforation in
one of the temporal bones, generally the left; and several skulls were found with a flint perforator sticking in
the aperture, and evidently driven into the head after death, perhaps in pursuance of some superstitious motive.
Across the mound, from east to west, a streak of ashes and charcoal was noticed. The east side of the mound
inclosed a grave made of stone slabs, and containing a skeleton stretched out at full length, with the head to the
south. In this grave were found two sinkers and a shell. The relics taken from this mound consist of sinkers of
stone and iron ore (sixteen in number), arrow and spear-heads, pipes, beads, and other ornaments of shell, perfor-
ated teeth of animals, bone awls, and fragments of hematite, lead ore, copper, deer and elk-horn. It is probable
that the burials in this mound belong to different periods. Many of the relics here found were presented to the
National Museum by Mr. M. Tandy, of Dallas City, and others who had exhumed them.

SINKERS. 173

Fig. 297.—Cast of a specimen formerly belonging to Dr. E. H. Davis, and
now in the Blackmore Museum, at Salisbury, England. It is figured by Mr.
Stevens and described by him as “a plummet-like object of tale, grooved at one
end, and with the other end worked to a corresponding point.’ Squier and
Davis represent a similar specimen of more graceful form. They call these
relics “ pendants,” and state that they “are of frequent occurrence in the vicinity
of the ancient works, though seldom found, if indeed found at all, in the ancient
mounds themselves.”+ The original of Fig. 297 was found in Ohio.

Fig. 298.—This specimen bears some resemblance to the original of Fig.
297, but it bulges less in the middle, and its lower end expands and terminates
ina conoid. The material of this well-polished object is a dark-green, compact
kind of greenstone, somewhat porphyritic in structure. It belongs to a collec-
tion of relics from Madison Township, in Franklin County, Ohio, which were
presented to the National Museum by Mr. W. R. Limpert, of Groveport, in the
same township. They were not taken from mounds, but were found by farmers
while ploughing.

1
2

Fic. 299.—Stone sinker. Ohio. (16034).

Fig. 299.—A well-polished sinker of specular iron, provided with two
grooves, the lower one of which runs in an oblique direction. It was taken from
a mound in Licking County, Ohio, and presented by Mr. W. Anderson.

The following class comprises sinkers in which the upper part is worked
into the shape of a knob.

Fig. 300 (on page 174).—This sinker is of a flattened pear-shape, being one
inch and three-eighths thick in the middle, and apparently made of fine-grained
granite. The surface is entirely decomposed and rough. From Beverly, Essex
County, Massachusetts. Presented by Mr. Levi Cole.

Fig. 801 (on page 174).—A specimen of more regular form, consisting of
feldspathic rock. The surface is rough, in consequence of weathering. Found at
Eastport, Washington County, Maine, and presented by the Rev. E. Vetromile.

* Stevens: Flint Chips; p. 500.

+ Squier and Davis: Ancient Monuments; p. 235.

174 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

Fig. 302.—This object, of a somewhat flattened shape, consists of a dark
metamorphic slate. It expands considerably in the middle, and the lower part
shows four ground facets terminating in a point, like the apex of a four-sided
pyramid. From South Kingston, Washington County, Rhode Island. It
belongs to the Clark collection.

Fic. 300.—Massachusetts. (6508). Fie. 301.—Maine. (11624). Fic. 302.—Rhode Island. (17875).

Fras. 800-302.—Stone sinkers.

Fig. 303.—In this specimen, which has a tolerably regular form, the knob
is not sufficiently expanding for permitting a line to be tied firmly below it.
But the sinker, composed of sandstone, is much weathered, and the knob may
have gradually dwindled away. If, however, the object presents its original
form, we must assume that the line also passed around its lower part. From
Guadaloupe, Santa Barbara County, California. Sent by Mr. Bowers.

Fig. 304.—A very large sinker of granite, probably suspended in the man-
ner suggested in the preceding case. The side not exposed to view in the figure
is partly flat. This sinker may have been used in connection with a large hook
for catching cod or halibut. From Massachusetts. Presented by General J. H.
Devereux.

Fig. 305.—A specimen of unusual form, made of a pebble of elongated
shape, somewhat resembling a four-sided prism. The neck is produced by
pecking, and there are also traces of work noticeable on the left side and at the
lower end. The material is a greenish-gray metamorphic slate. Obtained at
Marblehead, Essex County, Massachusetts, and presented by Mr. J. J. H.
Gregory.

Fig. 306.—A well-shaped sinker with flattened knob. The surface is much
corroded, and has a slightly porous appearance. The stone out of which this
sinker is made effervesces when treated with an acid, and consequently consists
of, or contains much, carbonate of lime. Obtained at Sarasota Bay, Manatee
County, Florida, and presented by Mr. J. G. Webb.

SINKERS. 175

Fig. 307.—A quartzite sinker of conoidal form, with a knob traversed by a
groove, which doubtless was intended to facilitate the adjustment of the line.
From Middleborough, Massachusetts. Presented by Professor J. W. P. Jenks.

Fig. 303.—California. (30469). Fia. 304.—Massachusetts. (6711). Fre. 305.—Massachusetts (6505).

Fia. 306.—Florida. (10832). Fic. 307.—Massachusetts. (6516) Fic. 308.—California. (21875).
All 3.
Fics. 303-308.—Stone sinkers.
Fig. 308.—This specimen, which consists of serpentine, exhibits an almost

globular bulge. In this sinker, as in others already described, the neck portion
of the knob is hardly narrow enough to allow a firm attachment of the line, for

176 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

which reason it may be supposed that the latter passed around both the knob
and the opposite extremity. Found by Mr. Schumacher on Santa Cruz Island.*

In the four specimens forming the next group there are no knobs, properly
speaking, and other forms appear in their stead.

Fie, 309.—California. (12139). Fia. 310.—Maine. (6382). Fig. 311.—California. (21873). Fre. 312.—California. (7117).
All .
Fras. 309-312.—Stone sinkers.

Fig. 8309.—An object of limestone, rather rudely worked, and slightly com-
pressed in the longitudinal direction. Both extremities contract and show traces
of asphaltum. The line evidently encompassed both ends. From Santa Rosa
Island. Sent by Mr. G. W. Harford.

Fig. 310.—This sinker is made of a chloritic pebble, of which the pecking
has not entirely removed the original surface. A cross-section through the
middle, therefore, would not present a circular but an irregular form. The upper
end shows a slight expansion, barely sufficient to afford a hold to the line when
tied around it. Obtained near the Saint Croix River, Maine, and presented by
Mr. G. A. Boardman.

Fig. 311.—A specimen of kindred form, but larger, and perfectly symmet-
rical in shape. The surface of this object, which consists of serpentine, shows
distinct strize, produced by the tool with which it was finished. Found on Santa
Cruz Island by Mr. Schumacher.

Fig. 312.—Another Californian specimen with a more considerable bulge
and a very slender neck, terminating in a hardly perceptible enlargement. The
material of this well-worked, but not polished, sinker is hornblende-schist. Sent
by Dr. L. G. Yates.

* Messrs. Squier and Davis figure on p. 235 of ‘‘Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley ’’ a specimen
exhibiting a greater bulge and more elaborate workmanship. The comparatively small upper end is grooved; the
lower end terminates in a conoid. No special mention of this object is made in the text of their work.

SINKERS. Ua

The sinkers which next claim our attention are perforated at the upper
extremity.

al
2

Fia. 314.—Louisiana. (34408). Fie. 313.—California. (26403), Fig. 315.—Arkansas. (9942).

Fics. 313-315.—Stone sinkers.

Fig. 313.—A_ well-worked, but not polished, small specimen of potstone,
with a hole drilled from both sides, and therefore bi-conical in shape. Though
of the sinker form, the object is rather small, and possibly may have served as
an ornament. Perhaps it belonged to the fishing-tackle of a juvenile angler.
Obtained on San Miguel Island by Mr. Bowers.

Fig. 314.—One of the series of fine polished sinkers from Morehouse Parish,
in Louisiana, presented by Mr. Brodnax. It consists of specular iron. The
hole is bi-conical, and drilled with great precision.

Fig. 315.—This sinker, of very regular shape and well polished, is made of
amygdaloid. The perforation has a cylindrical form, and below it are seen two
incised ornamental lines. Found in Arkansas, and presented by Mrs. R. L.
Stuart.

Fia. 316.—California. Fic. 317.—Illinois.

Fries. 316 and 317.—Stone sinkers.
R23

178 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

Nearly of this shape, but more slender in the neck, are the drilled stone
and ivory sinkers still made by the western Eskimos. Some of their sinkers
are provided with a hole at each end, as an example will show hereafter.

Fig. 316 (on page 177).—A very good specimen from San Miguel Island,
made of greenish-gray, slightly porous stone, apparently of volcanic origin. The
perforation, near the blunt end, is bi-conical. This sinker and that represented
in Fig. 317 belong to the extensive collection of the late Mr. W.8. Vaux, of

Philadelphia, and were kindly loaned to me by his brother, Mr. George Vaux, of
that city.

Fig. 317 (on page 177).—A well-polished sinker of coarse-grained syenite.
The portion above the bi-conical hole is somewhat damaged by fracture. It
formed the less pointed end of the object. From Chester, Randolph County,
Illinois.*

ab ple Be
2 2 2
Fria. 318.—Northwest Coast. (2649). Fic. 319.—California, (21893). Fia. 320.—Ohio. (31000).

Fries. 318-320.—Stone sinkers.

Fig. 318.—A specimen made of gneiss, presenting a rather rough appear-
ance, but nevertheless symmetrical in form. The bulging part is slightly flat-
tish, and both ends exhibit a still more compressed shape. The bi-conical per-
foration is one inch distant from the upper end, which shows an insignificant
depression in the middle. Obtained on the Northwest Coast during Lieutenant
Wilkes’s exploring expedition.

Fig. 319.—Marked as a cast of a specimen in the collection of the Cali-

* T have the upper half of a well-made drilled stone sinker, whicb, significantly enough, was found in the
Richland Creek, near Belleville, Saint Clair County, Illinois.

SINKERS. 179

fornia Academy of Sciences, at San Francisco. The object, to judge from its
imitation, is well worked. The upper end shows a deep groove, running verti-
cally from one aperture of the bi-conical hole to the other. I cannot state of
what material the specimen is made, and from what special locality in Cali-
fornia it is derived. My inquiries led to no definite result. A cast of another
Californian sinker of the same shape was sent by Mr. R. E. C. Stearns to the
National Museum (No. 30110). The original, consisting of dark slate, was
found in Solano County.

Fig. 320.—This specimen is made of a flattish pebble of fine-grained sand-
stone, to some extent modified by grinding. <A well-ground horizontal groove
passes through the apertures of the cylindrical perforation. The object has the
appearance of a sinker; but, nevertheless, may have been designed for another
use. From Cleveland, Ohio. Presented by General J. T. Wilder.

Fic. 321.—Eskimo stone sinker. Alaska. (24702).

Fig. 321.—A well-made Eskimo sinker of greenish porphyry, having at
both ends perforations which still hold cords of thong and sinew-remnants of
the line and of a strip to which the hook was attached. The perforations run in
opposite directions. Obtained on Ukivok or King Island, Alaska, by Mr. L. M.
Turner.

In concluding my account of North American stone sinkers, I present on
page 180 two illustrations of such articles, which should have been noticed in
their proper connection with others of similar character. The figures, however,
show the objects exceptionally in natural size, being printed from blocks not
specially prepared for this work, but already used in an official report.“ The

* Norris: Fifth Annual Report of the Superintendent of the Yellowstone National Park; Washington, 1881}
Fig. 7 on p. 33, and Fig. 8 on p. 34.

180 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

originals, moreover, were both found near the Yellowstone Lake, in the Yellow-
stone Park, Wyoming, and sent to the National Museum by Mr. P. W. Norris.

Fig. 322.—A grooved sinker, made of a syenite pebble of somewhat com-
pressed shape. The pecked groove seems to be its only artificial modification.

1
1

Fra. 322. (65318). Fra. 323. (65319).

Fries. 322 and 323.—Stone sinkers. Wyoming.

Fig. 823.—This very fine and carefully polished sinker consists of whitish
quartz, variegated with black spots. The hole is regularly drilled from both
sides,

On a preceding page allusion was made to sinkers of native copper. As
this metal would have furnished an excellent material for sinkers, the small
number of copper articles of this kind hitherto discovered must excite some
surprise. Indeed, I know only of two specimens, representations and descrip-
tions of which are here given.

Pig. 324.—A sinker of beaten native copper, approximately round in the
cross-section, and provided with a groove for the attachment of the line. The
object is not quite regularly shaped, and shows several cracks, into one of which,
at the lower end, a thin piece of beaten native silver is inserted. The original
was found, in June, 1819, with a number of other relics, in a mound at Marietta,

SINKERS. 181

Ohio. This mound and its contents have been minutely described by Dr. S. P.
Hildreth in a letter addressed to Mr. Caleb Atwater.* The full-size figure is
made after the original, which belongs to the collection of the American Anti-
quarian Society, at Worcester, Massachusetts, but was kindly loaned to me
through the mediation of Mr. Stephen Salisbury, Jr., of the same place.t+

1 1
od T
Fig. 324. Fig. 325. (6827).

Fics. 324 and 325.—Copper sinkers. Mounds in Ohio,

Fig. 325.—This sinker, presented by General J. H. Devereux, is carefully
hammered from a solid piece of native copper, of good, though not entirely
symmetrical, shape, and smooth on the surface, which shows some slight cavities.
The upper part terminates in a compressed knob, sufficiently projecting to afford
a firm hold to the line, and the lower end, without forming a knob, shows a some-
what similar shape. The object is not round, but flattened throughout, measur-
ing about half an inch in thickness. A cross-section through the middle would
almost resemble a rectangle with strongly rounded angles.

* Archeologia Americana; Vol. I, 1820; p. 168, etc. The wood-cut on p. 173 (Fig. 5) bears only # distant
resemblance to the object.

+ Since the above was written, Professor F. W. Putnam has published in the ‘‘ Proceedings of the American
Antiquarian Society ’’ (New Series, Vol. II; p. 849-363) an article relating to the objects discovered in the mound
at Marietta. He thinks the specimen, which I call a sinker, has been made by pounding together an arborescent
mass of native copper containing native silver. The peculiar occurrence of these two virgin metals in the Lake
Superior district is well known, and before having examined the specimen in question, I entertained the view
expressed by Professor Putnam. But upon close inspection it appeared to me as though the piece of silver in the
sinker showed traces of beating, and hence my statement. After all, the matter is not of great importance.

182 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

General Devereux informed me that he obtained this specimen, in the
summer of 1852, from the family of the finder. It had been exhumed, some
years previously, from a tumulus in Painesville Township, Lake County, Ohio.
He had not the opportunity of personally visiting the site and remains of this
mound, which, from the description given of it, was of no unusual size or shape.
It had been gradually leveled by the plough, during which process large quan-
tities of detached human bones as well as many distinct skeletons had come to
light; and also implements and ornaments of stone, together with the copper
article—the only one made of that metal. The family of the discoverer had
displaced or lost everything of the find, excepting the copper relic, which hap-
pily had been carefully preserved as possessing unusual value.

In a valuable treatise on North American prehistoric copper articles, Dr.
Emil Schmidt has described this object as an ornament.* Its weight and form
militate against this view, whereas it has all the characteristics of a sinker, and
probably was employed as such. It is a reproduction in copper of a certain
type of stone sinkers, of which the specimen represented in Fig. 298 may serve
as an example.

In the next group I finally present designs of four specimens made of shell,
three of which correspond in shape more or less to certain objects of stone
brought to the reader’s notice, which I consider as sinkers.

Fic. 326.—Florida. Fic. 327.—Florida. Fig. 328.—Florida. Fic. 329.—West Virginia.
(32566). (18969). (32567). (89773).

All ¢.

Fics. 326-329.—Shell sinkers.

Fig. 326.—Cast of a modified shell of Strombus pugilis, found in Florida, and
sent to the National Museum for reproduction in plaster, by Mr. J. W. Velie, of
Chicago. The edge-portion of the wall of this shell has been removed until its
more solid part was reached; the end of the beak is ground off, and below the

* Schmidt: Die prihistorischen Kupfergerithe Nordamerikas; Archiv ftir Anthropologie; Vol. XI, 1878;
p. 88.

FISH-CUTTERS. 183

small plane thus formed it is encircled by a groove. It appears probable that
this prepared shell served as a sinker.

Fig. 327.—An object made of the columella of Pyrula perversa. Its ereat
resemblance to a class of stone sinkers justifies the opinion that it also was a
sinker. From Sarasota Bay, Florida. Presented by Mr. J. G. Webb.

Fig. 828.—Cast of another specimen of shell, worked into the form of a
sinker. Original likewise found in Florida, and loaned to the National Museum
by Mr. Velie.

Fig. 329.—Columella of Pyrula perversa, carefully brought into shape, and
perforated at one end. This specimen was found in a shell-heap on Blenner-
hassett’s Island in the Ohio River, two miles below Parkersburg, West Virginia,
and belongs to a collection of relics from that island sent to the National Museum
by Mr. J. P. MacLean.* It would have done excellent service as a sinker for a
fishing-line; but as the shell out of which it is made oceurs only on the southern
coasts of the United States, it doubtless was deemed valuable by the inhabitants
of the interior country, and hence it may have been designed for an ornamental
rather than a practical purpose.

Fish-cutters.—Any one acquainted with the types of North American stone
implements is aware of the existence of smoothed or polished cutting-tools of
slate, which generally exhibit a semi-lunar shape, having a curved cutting-edge
and a straight or nearly straight back, thick and projecting for greater con-
venience in handling. One of these cutters is figured by Squier and Davis, and
they are thus alluded to :—‘‘Another variety is occasionally found in the Eastern
States. They are sometimes composed of slate, and are of various sizes, often
measuring five or six inches in length. They are very well adapted for flaying
animals, and other analogous purposes.”; They were afterward noticed by
myself,{ and more minutely described by Professor Putnam§ and Dr. Abbott.|!
The above-quoted statements are correct, excepting the remark that these cutters
occur occasionally in the Eastern States. They are, in fact, rather frequent in
the Northern Atlantic States, but apparently confined to that region. The speci-
mens in the National Museum were obtained in New Hampshire, Massachusetts,
Connecticut, New York, and Pennsylvania. According to Dr. Abbott, they are
common in New Jersey.

Fig. 330, on the following page, shows the form of one of the smaller speci-
mens of this class, composed of a greenish-gray slate. The back is in the middle

* His description of the shell-deposits on that island will be found in another section of this work.

+ Squier and Davis: Ancient Monuments; p. 215, ete.

{ The Archeological Collection of the United States National Museum; No. 287 of Smithsonian Contributions
to Knowledge; Washington, 1876; p. 24.

§ Putnam: Bulletins of the Essex Institute, Vol. V, April and May, and July, 1873; p. 80, ete.; p. 125.

|| Abbott: Primitive Industry ; p. 63, ete.

154 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

three-eighths of an inch thick, but, as in other specimens of the same kind, be-
comes gradually thinner toward the ends. It has a tolerably sharp cutting-edge.
The specimen was found at Blackstone, Worcester County, Massachusetts, and
belongs to the series of New England relics acquired from Mr. J. H. Clark.

bol

Fria. 330.—Stone fish-cutter. Massachusetts. (17938).

The original of Fig. 331 is in possession of Mr. IF. Roulet, of Newark
Valley, Tioga County, New York, and the illustration was made after an exact
vast taken by one of the modelers of the National Museum. This specimen,
which consists of a reddish-brown, mottled, ferruginous slate, was found on the
flats of Owego Creek, near Newark Valley. It probably had originally a greater
depth, which gradually became less by grinding. The cutting-edge is beveled
from both sides. The back is in the middle half an inch thick, and afforded,
like that of the first-described specimen, a convenient handle.

Fic. 331.—Stone fish-ecutter. New York. (58520).

Fig. 332 represents a large, unfortunately defective, cutter of gray slate,
found on the bank of the Schuylkill, near Norristown, Montgomery County,
Pennsylvania, and presented to the National Museum by Mr. J. H. McIlvaine.
In this specimen the back is only five-sixteenths of an inch thick in the middle,
and, considering the size of the implement, which measured more than nine
inches in length when complete, is too insignificant to afford a firm grasp. It is
therefore obvious that the blade was originally inserted, or intended to be

FISH-CUTTERS. 185

inserted, into a separate handle, probably of wood. A slit cut in longitudinally
below the projecting upper part, and not placed in the middle, but nearer one
end of the blade (for a reason to be explained very soon) facilitated the connection
of the two parts by means of a ligature. Professor Putnam and Dr. Abbott
figure in their before-cited publications a specimen from Massachusetts, showing
three longitudinal holes below the back, which in that instance forms a thin edge.

Fig. 332.—Stone fish-cutter. Pennsylvania. (8025).

I have called these implements “ fish-cutters,”’ not for conveying the idea
that they were exclusively used for the purpose indicated by that name, but
because I believe that the cutting of fish was one of their chief applications.
There are in the National Museum handled cutting-implements of the same
shape, and partly of the same material, obtained from Innuits and Indians of
the Northwest Coast, and these tools are generally designated by those who sent
them from that region as “fish-knives,” “knives for splitting fish,” ‘“ halibut-
knives,” ete., and it is sometimes stated that they are chiefly used by women.
I will give a few examples.

Fig. 333, on the next page, shows a large, well-polished, and sharp-edged
slate knife, designed to be inserted into a handle. It was obtained by Mr. E. W.
Nelson from Eskimos of Norton Sound, Alaska. He calls it “a woman’s fish-
knife,” and draws special attention to the absence of the handle.

In Fig. 334, also on the following page, I represent another slate knife, sent
from the same locality by-Mr. L. M. Turner. It is set in a massive semi-lunar
handle of pine-wood. A ligature of whalebone passing through a hole in the
blade and fitting into a groove in the handle keeps both parts firmly united.
The cutting-edge of this tool is quite sharp. It will be noticed that the hole in

R 24

186 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

the blade is not in the middle, but nearer one of its corners, just as in the origi-
nal of Fig. 332. It was probably intended to exert a greater pressure on one side.

Fig. 334. (24364).

Frias. 333 and 334.—Stone fish-cutters. Eskimos, Norton Sound, Alaska.

Fig. 335 presents the form of a “ halibut-knife” used by the Makah Indians
of Neah Bay, Washington Territory, and sent by Mr. James G. Swan. The
blade consists of a thin piece of iron, and is inserted into a slightly-curved,
rather thick handle of pine-wood. The two holes in the blade have no signifi-
cance ; they were originally in the piece of sheet-iron obtained from the whites,
which was afterward utilized in the manufacture of a knife.

Another Makah knife from Neah Bay sent by him consists entirely of slaty
stone. It has, as Fig. 336 shows, a semi-circular cutting-edge and a massive,

FISH-CUTTERS. 187

_rudely-shaped back without shoulders. In this uncouth, but very characteristic,

implement only the cutting-edge is ground Mr. Swan ealls it an “ ancient
knife for splitting fish.”

Fic. 335. (23372).

Fra. 336. (18921).

Fias. 325 and 336.—Fish-cutters of iron and stone. Makah Indians, Neah Bay.

The Greenland Eskimos, more especially the women, use at present a semi-
circular iron cutting-tool (called oolo0), which is hafted like a saddler’s knife ;
but formerly, before they obtained iron from Europeans, they employed knives
with blades of slate,* as did also the eastern Innuits south of Greenland.

The resemblance between the modern cutters denominated “fish-knives”
and the older slate knives described by me is really striking, and hence it will
be deemed justifiable that I have claimed an analogous use for the latter, and
have mentioned them in connection with prehistoric fishing.

* Sometimes of meteoric iron.

185 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

In commenting on these tools, Dr. Abbott observes :—‘‘As these semi-lunar
knives are more abundant in New England than in the Middle States, and do
not appear to have been in use among the southern coast-tribes, it is probable
that the pattern is derived from the Eskimos, with whom the northern Algonkins
were frequently in contact.”* This appears to me entirely probable.

BOATS AND APPURTENANCES.

Boats.—The simple craft of the Indians are alluded to in the earliest works
on North America, but very little of a descriptive character is given, excepting
in the first volume of De Bry, which contains an account of the manufacture of
boats hollowed out of stems of trees.; It does not seem that in this country
circumstances have favored the preservation of boats for a considerable time,
the only case known to me being that recorded by Colonel Charles C. Jones.
He says :—

Fria. 337.—Boat, exhumed near Savannah.

“In 1845, while digging a canal on one of the rice-plantations on the
Savannah River, located only a few miles distant from the city of Savannah, at
a depth of three feet and a half below the surface of the swamp, the workmen
came upon a canoe embedded in the soil. It answered to the description of what
is familiarly known as a dug-out, and had been fashioned from the trunk of a
cypress-tree. About eleven feet long and thirty inches wide, its depth was
scarcely more than ten inches. Both bow and stern were strengthened, each by
a wooden brace kept in position by wooden pins passing through the sides of the
canoe and entering the braces at either end. This boat curved upward at either
end, so that the bow and stern rose above the middle portion. Located about
three feet from the stern was a seat nine inches wide, consisting of a rude cypress-
plank. Tor its reception the sides of the canoe had been notched three inches
below the gunwales, and it was further kept in position by four wooden pins—
two on each side

driven through the boat and entering the seat at either end,
as in the case of the bow and stern braces.
“The bottom was flat, the sides rounding. No effort had been made to form

* Abbott: Primitive Industry; p. 64,

+ See ‘‘ Extracts.”

BOATS. 189

a keel. The bow and stern were both pointed, and not unlike in their general
outlines, the latter being more blunt than the former. At the top the sides were
rather more than half an inch in thickness, increasing, however, as they
descended and curved below the water-line.

‘When cleaned and dried, this canoe weighed sixty pounds, and could be
transported with the greatest facility by a single individual. The agency of fire
had obviously been invoked in the construction of this little boat. While there
were no marks of sharp cutting-tools, the evidence appeared conclusive that the
charred portions of the wood, both within and without, had been carefully
removed by rude incisive implements, probably of shell or stone. The plan of
felling the tree and of hollowing out the log, as perpetuated in one of De Bry’s
illustrations, seems to have been observed in this instance. Regarding the
regularity with which the outlines and the relative thicknesses of the sides of
this boat had been preserved, one could but admire the care and skill with which
that dangerous element, fire, had been made subservient to the uses of the
primitive boat-builder. It is entirely probable that the ordinary stone celts,
chisels, gouges, scrapers, or simple shells, were the only implements at command
for the removal of the charred surface, as the cypress-tree was by degrees cone
verted into the convenient dug-out. — — —

“This canoe had evidently lain for a very long time in its present position,
and seemed to have settled gradually. There was an accumulation of forty
inches of mud and soil above it, and around lay the rotting trunks, arms, and
roots of forest-trees, which, during the lapse of years, had died and become
intermingled with the débris of the swamp. Above the spot were growing
cypress-trees as large and seemingly as old as any in the surrounding forest.

“Tt is difficult to form a satisfactory estimate of the age of this relic. That
embedded cypress is, for an almost indefinite period, well-nigh indestructible by
ordinary agencies, is capable of proof. We have but to instance the salt-marshes
along the line of the Georgia coast, in not a few of which, at the depth of several
feet below the surface, may still be found the clearly-defined and well-preserved
traces of cypress-forests, consisting of limbs, trunks, knees, and roots. In
former years, at least some of these salt-marshes must have been fresh-water
swamps; and, without the violent intervention of some marked convulsion of
nature, of which we have no record, and for which no plausible reason can be
assigned, centuries must have elapsed before a gradual settling of the coast
could have occurred to such an extent as to have admitted the influx of tidal
waves converting cypress-swamps into extensive, uniform salt-marshes, destroy-
ing the original growth, and finally covering the fallen forests with mud to the
depth of several feet.

‘We are not aware that a sufficiently accurate record has been kept of the
annual deposit of mud from the overflowing waters of the Savannah River, to

190 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

enable us to derive from this source a plausible conjecture as to the age of this
canoe. So many uncertainties enter into calculations of this character, that in
most instances all attempts to arrive at definite results fall far short of satis-
factory conclusions. All we know is, that this Indian canoe is old—older than
the barge which conveyed Oglethorpe up the Savannah, when he first selected
the home of the Yamacraws as a site for the future commercial metropolis of the
more ancient, probably, than the statelier craft which carried

colony of Georgia
the fortunes of the discoverer of this Western Continent.

‘So far as our information extends, this is the first and only well-authenti-
cated instance of the exhumation of an ancient canoe in this country. It is in
just such a locality that we might have anticipated with greatest confidence the
existence of such a relic. The general employment of bark and skin in the
manufacture of their canoes by Northern Indians precludes all reasonable hope
of finding ancient specimens made of such perishable materials.”*

This canoe, Colonel Jones informs me, gradually yielded to decay after its
exhumation.

i
3

Fic. 338.—Wooden toy-boat. Santa Cruz Island. (18178).

During his exploration of graves in California, Mr. Paul Schumacher dis-
covered some wooden objects which I consider as toy-boats. Fig. 338 represents
the best-preserved and smallest of them, which was found on Santa Cruz Island.
It is a miniature flat-bottomed dug-out, measuring nearly seven inches in length,
and showing at one end a perforation, evidently designed to receive the line by
which the little canoe was guided. This specimen is a very creditable sample of

Indian wood-carving.

Bailing-scoops—In a former publication I have designated another wooden
object, likewise obtained by Mr. Schumacher on Santa Cruz Island, as a bailing-
vessel, because its form and material suggested that use.

Fig. 339 represents the specimen in question. It is skillfully cut out of one
piece of wood, including the handle, and has a capacity of about one pint.
The outline of this vessel, which is eight inches long with the handle, resembles
that of an irregular rectangle with strongly-rounded angles. The upper edge
opposite the handle is curved downward, as if by wear—a feature which led me

# Tones © Watiquities of the Southern Indians; p. 53, etc.; figure of canoe on p. 53. Colonel Jones kindly
loaned me tho cut.

BAILING-SCOOPS AND PADDLES. 191

to believe that the utensil served for bailing. While the bottom is sufficiently
flat to allow the object to stand, the lower part of the excavation has a curved
(concave) form. Like the toy-canoe just described, this vessel consists appar-
ently of cedar-wood, the material having become very light in both instances—
almost as light as the wood of the utensils extracted from the sites of lacustrine
settlements in Switzerland. Unfortunately I am unable to state whether these
two relics were found associated with manufactures of Caucasian origin or not.

Fig. 339.—Wooden bailing-scoop (?). Santa Cruz Island. (18326).

Though I have called the original of Fig. 339 a bailing-scoop, I would by
no means assert that it was used as such. It may have been a ladle or dipper.

Paddles.—TVhrough the kindness of Mr. W. Wallace Tooker, referred to on
page 126 of this publication, I am enabled to record the discovery of a frag-
mentary Indian paddle. It was extracted in the winter of 1880 from the mud
of a creek at Canoe Place, Long Island, by a man engaged in eel-fishing.

‘anoe Place (Niamuck in the Indian language) is a low, narrow isthmus
between Peconic and Shinnecock Bays, and so called because the Indians were
in the habit of hauling their canoes across it from bay to bay. Such operations
are also performed by whites. Mr. Tooker has seen quite large sail-boats and
smacks drawn across the isthmus on wheels, its narrowest part being less than
half a mile in width.

Fia. 340.

Paddle. Long Island.

As Fig. 340 shows, this paddle, which is thirty-four inches and one-fourth

192 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

long, and made of one piece of oak, has lost one-half of its blade; but a restora-
tion in dotted lines has been attempted. The relic belongs to Mr. Tooker, to
whom I am indebted for the description and a photograph, after which the illus-
tration was made.

Tam not aware that other paddles have been found under similar cireum-

stances in this country.

Anchor-stones.—Many years ago, while spending some days at Nanuet, a
post-village in Rockland County, New York, I saw in a store, kept by a man
who was in a small way a collector of aboriginal relics, two boulders of good
size, each encircled by a groove around the middle. I had not seen such stones
before, but concluded at once that they had served as anchors, not knowing
any other use to which they could have been applied. These objects, I believe,
are now generally considered as weights which were attached to strong lines
(probably thongs) of the proper length, and used as primitive anchors to moor
canoes to the shores, or to arrest, if need required, their drifting in mid-water.
Yet smaller stones of this kind, too heavy for net-sinkers, may have been
employed as weights to keep set-nets in place.

“Taree angular pebbles or boulders, with deep encircling grooves,” says
Dr. Abbott, “have been frequently found in the Delaware River as well as in
many of the larger creeks flowing into it. These grooved boulders, I believe,
were used as anchoring-stones.

“One of these so-called anchors, found in the bed of Crosswick’s Creek, near
Bordentown, New Jersey, is a compact sandstone boulder, nearly a cube in shape,
and weighs forty pounds. The groove divides the stone into equal parts, is
evenly worked, and measures uniformly one inch in width and three-fourths of
an inch in depth.

“This specimen was found embedded in mud, at a depth of nearly three
feet from the present surface. Near it were found a dozen notched pebbles, a
grooved stone axe, and several fragments of pottery.

“The cireumstances under which this grooved boulder was found clearly
indicate that it was used as an anchor; and its being associated with a small
series of notched pebbles is as interesting as it is suggestive. Unlike the large
notched pebbles referred to from the Water Gap,* this specimen could not have
been used as an attachment to a net, but at once suggests the use of a boat; and
as we know that these boats were in almost daily use, it is not probable that
they were always drawn from the water when not in use.’’+

Two remarkable anchor-stones were sent, in 1882, to the National Museum

* See note on p. 158 of this publication.

+ Abbott: Primitive Industry; p. 242, ete.

ANCHOR-STONES. 193

by Mr. John B. Wiggins, of Waverly, Tioga County, New York. Fig. 341
shows the form of one of them. It is made of a flattish boulder of fine-grained
sandstone, more than three inches in thickness. The groove, which runs parallel
with the longer sides of the boulder, is over an inch deep on the face shown in
the illustration, and ground out its whole length, but much shallower on the
opposite one, and there it seems to be a natural, yet artificially modified, depres-
sion in the boulder. This specimen, which weighs eighteen pounds and three-
quarters, was discovered in August, 1881, near the middle of the Susquehanna
River, in the neighborhood of Sayre, Bradford County, Pennsylvania, by Mr.
Benjamin F. Coolbaugh, while engaged with a party in spearing fish. Seeing
the object by the light of the torch, in passing over the place where it lay, he
returned and secured it.

Fic. 341.—Anchor-stone. Found in the Susquehanna River, Pennsylvania. (59108).

The other specimen, somewhat smaller, and weighing not more than sixteen
pounds and a half, is almost identical in shape with the one just described, and
consists of the same kind of fine-grained sandstone. It was also obtained in
1881 by Mr. Coolbaugh, at Sayre, where it came to light while laborers, em-
ployed by a railroad-company, were clearing away the ground with a steam-
shovel, to prepare a place for erecting machine-shops. The stone lay imbedded
in gravel and sand ten feet below the surface.

Fig. 342 on the following page, representing an anchor-stone of another
form, is made after a drawing sent to me by its owner, Dr. J. F. Snyder, men-
tioned on page 126 of this work. It was found, some years ago, in the bed of the

R25

194 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

Illinois River, near the mouth of the Sangamon (Illinois), while United States
engineers were engaged in dredging-operations. This stone consists of compact
carboniferous sandstone of yellow color, and weighs thirty-four pounds and a
half. Its dimensions, as given by Dr. Snyder, are as follows :—

Diameter - - - - 12 inches.
Thickness in the middle - (yy
Width of groove - - - 12 inch.
Depth of groove” - - - ze

i
4

Fic. 342.—Anchor-stone. Found in the Illinois River, Tlinois.

“The anchor-stone of which you have a drawing,” observes Dr. Snyder, “is
altogether a work of art. It is not smooth, but ‘ pecked’ all over, probably with
a sharp-pointed flint. It evidently has been worked to its present dimensions
and shape from a rough block of sandstone by long-continued, patient labor.
The groove in it is neatly cut, and also shows the traces of pecking.

““T have secured two other anchor-stones from the banks of the Illinois
River, since J. sent you the drawing of this one; but neither of them is as sym-
metrically shaped. The largest of the two is unfinished, and consists of the
same kind of sandstone. The angles of the rough block have been only partially
pecked down, and the groove is not deep. I did not weigh it; but I think it will
bear down forty-five or fifty pounds.

“The other one is apparently natural in its form: a smooth, water-worn

ANCHOR-STONES. 195

river-rock, two inches and a half in thickness, twelve in diameter, and slightly
concavo-convex; it is nearly circular, with rounded edges. Across one of its
faces runs a groove, an inch or more wide, but not deep; sufficient, however, to
indicate its use. It is a white stone, of silicious character, I think, and harder
than the sandrock. This object was exhumed from an old Indian grave, or
rather from a low, flat sand-mound, on the bank of the Illinois River, near
Beardstown, in this county (Cass). The enclosed skeleton was very much
decayed, extended at full length, with the head to the east, and the back of the
skull lying in the concave surface of the stone, which seemed to have been
placed as a pillow under the occiput of the corpse. Under each shoulder and
each hip, and under each heel of the skeleton was found a common, smooth
water-worn pebble as large as a hen’s egg. A few flint arrow-points and three
scales of the alligator-gar completed the sepulchral deposit. I have not weighed
this stone, but judge that it will not exceed twenty-five pounds.”

In another communication Dr. Snyder speaks of an anchor-stone, now
destroyed, which was also found in the same neighborhood in the bed of the
Illinois River, and was similar to that here figured. “It was,” he says, “ almost
an exact copy of mine, in material, dimensions, and weight.”

Very large notched pebbles and perforated stone slabs might have been used
as anchor-stones; but specimens thus modified, to which I could assign that
application with any degree of positiveness, have not fallen under my notice.

Stones are still employed instead of anchors for small craft in Europe as
- well as in North America, and probably all over the world. With regard to
North American anchor-stones, therefore, some discrimination is required to
discover whether an object of this class is a relic of the former inhabitants or of
their white successors, and there may be cases in which a proper distinction
becomes well-nigh impossible. Our fishermen on the great lakes and rivers
almost universally use stones in lieu of anchors. On the Susquehanna, I am
informed, they employ an unaltered stone slab of an elongated, approximately
rectangular form, preferring one which is naturally indented or inwardly curved
on one of its longer sides, in order to give a firm hold to the line. Such stones
weigh, according to the current in which they are used, from twenty-five to fifty
pounds.

For the following information, bearing on the employment of anchor-stones
in Virginia, I am indebted to Professor Otis T. Mason :—

“In response to your inquiry concerning the use of anchor-stones by the
negroes of Virginia, I would state that I have many a time gone out in a dug-
out canoe with negroes or ‘ poor whites’ to catch the white cat-fish found only in
the running water of the middle bed, or channel, of the streams. The fisher-

196 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

man was provided with two strong cedar-poles, a clothes-line, a number of
hooks on short lines, and a square slab of stone attached to about twenty feet
of rope for an anchor. This stone weighed fifteen pounds or more, and its
form was modified only sufficiently to secure the crosswise attachment of the
rope. The poles were stuck in the mud on either side of the channel, and the
clothes-line stretched between. The baited hooks were distributed along the line
at convenient distances, and the dug-out anchored to await results. Shortly a
tugging at the line would indicate business, and the stern of the canoe would be
poled to the vicinity of the excited hook. The fish secured and the hook re-
baited, the sportsman lay by for a new conquest. I am quite sure anchor-stones
were employed also in the little boats used on plantations near salt water, to
catch oysters for home consumption.”

The New England fishermen, also, in order to avoid expenses, replace
anchors by stones, as shown in the following examples.

ne
4

Fie. 343.—* Underrunning rock.” Massachusetts. (54346),

I represent in Fig. 343 one of the so-called ‘‘ underrunning rocks,” which
are attached to the end of trawl-lines, to sink them to the bottom. The object
here figured is a granite boulder of an ovoid form, showing no other alteration
by art than a drilled hole for receiving a grooved wooden pin to which the rope
is attached. Obtained at Gloucester, Massachusetts.

Fig. 344 presents the form of a New England “ killick,” used as an anchor

PREHISTORIC STRUCTURES CONNECTED WITH FISHING. A

for a fishing-boat, and also for mooring gill-nets, fish-traps, and trawl-lines. It
is an artificially-prepared, grooved granite slab of square outline, firmly set into
a somewhat anchor-like wooden structure, terminating in flukes at the base—a
curious combination of the anchor-stone and the anchor. From Rockport,
Massachusetts.

Fic. 344.—* Killick.” Massachusetts. (54417).

PREHISTORIC STRUCTURES CONNECTED WITH FISHING.

Fish-preserves—Colonel Charles C. Jones, in his account of the mounds in
the State of Georgia, draws attention to artificial excavations occurring in the
immediate vicinity of some of the earthworks, and assigns to these excavations
the character of fish-preserves. He first notices the earthworks located upon
the right bank of the Etowah River, on the plantation of Colonel Lewis Tumlin,
a few miles from Cartersville, in Bartow County. I reproduce on page 198 his
plan of the works as Fig. 345, and quote his statements relative to them :—

“Viewed as a whole,” he says, “this group is the most remarkable within
the confines of the State. These mounds are situated in the midst of a beautiful
and fertile valley. They occupy a central position in an area of some fifty acres,
bounded on the south and east by the Etowah River, and on the north and west

198 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

by a large ditch or artificial canal, which at its lower end communicates directly
with the river. This moat (@ G) at present varies in depth from five to twenty-
five feet, and in width from twenty to seventy-five feet. No parapets or earth-
walls appear upon its edges. Along its line are two reservoirs (D D), of about
an acre each, possessing an average depth of not less than twenty feet, and its
upper end expands into an artificial pond (P), elliptical in form, and somewhat
deeper than the excavations mentioned.

Fie. 345.—Earthworks in the Etowah Valley.

‘Within the enclosure formed by this moat and the river are seven mounds.
Three of them are pre-eminent in size, the one designated in the accompanying
plan by the letter A far surpassing the others both in its proportions and in the
degree of interest which attaches to it. — — —

“The central tumulus rises about sixty-five feet above the level of the val-
ley. It is entirely artificial, consisting wholly of the earth taken from the moat
and the excavations, in connection with the soil collected around its base. It
has received no assistance whatever from any natural hill or elevation.

“In general outline it may be regarded as quadrangular, if we disregard a
slight angle to the south. That taken into account, its form is pentagonal.
——— On its summit this tumulus is nearly level. Shorn of the luxuriant

PREHISTORIC STRUCTURES CONNECTED WITH FISHING 199

vegetation and tall forest-trees which at one time crowned it on every side. the
outlines of this mound stand in bold relief. Its angles are still sharply defined.
The established approach to the top is from the east. Its ascent was accomplished
through the intervention of terraces, rising one above the other—inclined planes
leading from the one to the other. These terraces are sixty-five feet in width,
and extend from the mound toward the southeast. Near the eastern angle a
pathway leads to the top; but it does not appear to have been intended for very
general use. May it not have been designed for the priesthood alone, while,
assembled upon the broad terraces, the worshipers gave solemn heed to the
religious ceremonies performed upon the eastern summit of this ancient temple?

‘Hast of this large central mound—and so near that their flanks meet and
mingle—stands a smaller mound about thirty-five feet high, originally quadran-

gular, now nearly circular in form, and with a summit diameter of one hundred
feet. From its western slope is an easy and iminediate communication with the
terraces of the central tumulus. This mound is designated in the plan by the
letter B. Two hundred and fifty feet in a westerly direction from this mound,
and distant some sixty feet im a southerly direction from the central mound, is
the third (C) and last of this immediate group. Pentagonal in form, it possesses
an altitude of twenty-three feet. It is uniformly level at the top. — — —

“Hast of this group, and within the enclosure, is a chain of four sepulchral
mounds (f F F F), ovoidal in shape. Little individual interest attaches to them.
Nothing, aside from their location in the vicinity of those larger tumuli and
their being within the area formed by the canal and the river, distinguishes them
from numerous earth-mounds scattered here and there throughout the length
and breadth of the Etowah and Oostenaula Valleys.

“The artificial elevation £, lying northwest of the central group, is remark-
able for its superficial area, and is completely surrounded by the moat which, at
that point, divides with a view to its enclosure. The slope of the sides of these
tumuli is just such as would be assumed by gradual accretions of earth succes-
sively deposited in small quantities from above.”

Having expressed, in the next paragraph, his opinion that the central mound
served as a temple of the sun, Colonel Jones continues :—

“Tn the true relation of the vicissitudes which attended the Governor Don
Hernando de Soto, and some nobles of Portugal in the discovery of the Province
of Florida, we are informed by the Gentleman of Elvas that ‘on Wednesday,
the nineteenth day of June, the Governor entered Pacaha, and took quarters in
the town where the Cacique was accustomed to reside. It was enclosed, and very
large. In the towers and the palisade were many loopholes. There was much
dry maize, and the new was in great quantity throughout the fields. At the
distance of half a league to a league off were large towns, all of them surrounded

200 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

with stockades. Where the Governor stayed was a great lake near to the enclos-
ure; and the water entered a ditch that well-nigh went round the town. From
the River Grande to the lake was a canal, through which the fish came into it,
and where the Chief kept them for his eating and pastime. With nets that were
found in the place, as many were taken as need required; and however much
might be the casting, there was never any lack of them. ——— _ The Cacique
of Casqui many times sent large presents of fish, shawls, and skins.”*

‘While the earth removed in the construction of the ditch and excavations
was primarily employed in the erection of the tumuli within the enclosure, while
they may in one sense be regarded as the sources of the mounds, and while their
sizes and depths were, to a certain extent, regulated by the supply of mate-
rial requisite for the completion of the projected truncated pyramid and its
dependent mounds, we are of opinion that, during the progress of the entire
work, direct reference was had to the final use of these excavations, and of this
canal as fish-preserves, whence the priests, caciques, and noted personages of the
nation, who probably dwelt within the enclosure formed by the moat and the
river, could at all seasons derive an abundant supply of fish. The canal leading
from the artificial pond in which it takes its rise communicates directly with both
reservoirs, and, after passing them, empties into the Etowah. Through this canal
fishes could have been readily introduced from the river into all three of these
artificial lakes, and there propagated. Cane or wooden wears—in such common
use among the Southern Indians during the sixteenth century—would have pre-
vented all escape, and thus these reservoirs would have answered the purposes
of fish-preserves. Such we believe them to have been.”+

Somewhat similar excavations accompanying tumular erections were seen
by Colonel Jones in other parts of Georgia, namely, in the neighborhood of two
mounds lying close to the left bank of the Savannah River, on the Mason plan-
tation, twelve or fifteen miles below the city of Augusta; and on the site of the
‘Messier Mound,” located on Messier’s plantation in Karly County, about twelve
miles east of the Chattahoochee River. Yet in these instances they present less
marked features than in the case of the mound-group in the Etowah Valley.

I am not aware that excavations bearing the distinct character of fish-pre-
serves have been noticed in connection with the numerous mounds and mural
earthworks in Ohio.

Fish-pens.—I am indebted to my esteemed correspondent, Mr. William L.

* Narratives of the Career of Hernando de Soto, ete.; p. 112, ete.
7 Jones: Antiquities of the Southern Indians; p. 136, ete.

} Ibid.; p. 152, etc.; p. 166, etc.

PREHISTORIC STRUCTURES CONNECTED WITH FISHING. 201

Stone—the well-known author—for the following account of a stone structure,
evidently a fish-pen, in the State of New York :—

OCT OLN
oe

i
SSF

SWS 2S

————

FISH

Oe:

Fie. 346.—Stone fish-pen. Saratoga County, New York.

Form of Post standing
aba sharp angle to the
Land,

ROAD TO VICTORY MILLS WOT. MARKHAM DEL.

“When at Saratoga Springs, in the summer of 1879, Mr. Benjamin R.
Viele, who resides on the left or north bank of Fish Creek (the outlet of Saratoga
Lake, running into the Hudson), called my attention to what he considered an
ancient Indian work; and accordingly, the following day, in company with Mr.
James M. Andrews, Jr., I drove over to his house. Mr. Viele took us in a boat
across Fish Creek to the spot he had described; and the afternoon was spent in
a careful investigation of the work. At a point directly opposite the Viele farm-
house, between the creek and the high slate bank on the top of which runs the
road to Victory Mills, there is a large, open swamp. In this swamp, extending
in an irregular semi-circular form from the high bank, is a solid wall built of
cobble-stones, regularly laid up and ranging in width from six to eight feet, and
enclosing an area of about half an acre. On each side of the wall a pole can be
run down in the marshy muck from sixteen to twenty feet. In shape it is, as

R 26

202 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

before stated, nearly a semi-circle, both ends resting on, or rather terminating
at, the bank, the latter forming the base of a segment, or a chord of a circle. It
is continuous save toward its eastern extremity, where there is a break or gap
of twenty-four feet. Connecting the ends of the semi-circle is a straight wall
built close to the shore, and at the foot of the slate bank or bluff already men-
tioned, which latter has a height of twenty-five feet. Beyond the curve to the
west, and connected with this straight stone work, extends another wall, the
object of which is not apparent, unless it served as a wharf. Near the centre of
this shore wall, or chord of the are, within the weir, and standing on the edge
of the embankment, is a stone post of curious form, deeply embedded in the
wall, the apex being about three feet above the ground; while near the middle
and on top of the wharf there is another stone, bearing evidence of having long
withstood the ravages of time. It is two feet long, with a small round knob as
a head, worn smooth by friction. Its broad pedestal is surrounded by large
stones, deeply planted, which hold it firmly at a sharp angle to the land. A
glance at the accompanying map, drawn by my friend, Mr. W. T. Markham,
will make this description plain to the reader. The day following my visit,
Hon. J. P. Butler and Professor Henry McGuier, of Saratoga Springs, drove
over to the spot, and took the following measurements, which may prove valu-
able to the scientific delver after archeological data :—

Descriptive. Feet.
Are to opening - - - : . 3 384
Weir opening - : - - - - 24
Remaining are - - - - : : 40
Chord of are (stone or shore wall) - : 390
Axis of are - - - : : 2 84
Wharf - - - . - - - 160

“The cobble-stones have all been brought from a field three-fourths of a
mule distant.

“This structure is evidently not the work of whites, as may be conjectured
from the facts that the oldest settler has no record or tradition regarding it, and
that there are directly upon the top of the wall, in different places, stumps of
white oak betokening a growth of several centuries. The wall has so much
sunk that it is at present but two feet above the water of the swamp. It does
not appear to have been the work of the aborigines inhabiting the country when
discovered ; for had it been, those Indians would have had a tradition regarding
its origin, and would not have failed to communicate it to the early settlers, by
whom, in turn, it would have been transmitted to their children and grand-
children, many of the latter of whom are yet living. Yet that it was meant to

PREHISTORIC STRUCTURES CONNECTED WITH FISHING. 203

serve some important purpose is evident from the great labor involved in its
construction. ‘To a nomadic people, accustomed to depend almost entirely on the
uncertainties of the chase for support, the question of food for use in their war-
like expeditions was of the first consequence.

‘Now, the plan pursued by the Iroquois in hunting deer and other wild
animals, as described by a Jesuit missionary, Father Brulé, who lived among
them in the seventeenth century, was as follows :—

‘On the borders of a neighboring river twenty-five of the Indians had been
busied ten days in preparing for their annual deer-hunt. They planted posts
interlaced with boughs in two straight, converging lines, each extending more
than half a mile through forests and swamps. At the angle where they met
was made a strong enclosure, like a pound. At dawn of day the hunters spread
themselves through the woods, and advanced with shouts and clattering of
sticks, driving the deer before them into the enclosure, where others lay in wait
to dispatch them with arrows and spears.’

‘Our belief, therefore, is that the same plan was followed by the builders
of the work in the taking of fish, and that this enclosure was designed simply
as an immense trap in which to catch large quantities of that game, to be after-
ward smoked and laid aside for the year’s food. It is a well-known fact that in
colonial times, before the mills and dams were erected at Schuylerville by Gen-
eral Philip Schuyler in 1760, herring and shad in enormous shoals were in the
habit of running in the spring up the Hudson into Fish Creek (hence the name),
and thence through Saratoga Lake and the Kayaderosseras Creek even to Rock
City Falls.* At this season of the year the swamp along the sides of the creek
is overflowed to the depth of several feet. Is it then not possible, probable
even, that the Indians at this time of the year, in their canoes, beat the creek,
until, approaching nearer and nearer, large quantities of herring and shad would
be driven through the gap in the wall into the enclosure? And this appears the
more reasonable when it is remembered that fish, season after season, have their
‘run-ways’ as well as deer. Observation had shown the Indians that the fish,
at this part of the creek, came across from the north to the south bank; and
hence the opening left directly opposite this angle of the stream—thus affording
the more easy driving of the fish into the enclosure. Then having driven the
fish into this immense ‘eel-pot’ and closed the gap with brush, they could at
their convenience either scoop them up, or, awaiting the subsidence of the water,
capture the fish, thus left high and dry, an easy prize.

* Mr. Henry Wagman, of Old Saratoga, informs me that when his grandmother (one of the very earliest
settlers) first came into the country, she and her neighbors were in the habit of scooping up in their aprons out of
Fish Creek quantities of those fish.

204. PREHISTORIC FISHING.

‘Nor is it necessary to assume that high water, then as now, covered the
swamp in the spring. The lay of the land and the observations of the settlers
for the last seventy-five years clearly show that the creek formerly washed the
high bank seen in the accompanying sketch, and that it gradually has been filling
in. Indeed, every few years the Victory Mills Company are obliged to dredge
out the creek to keep the supply of water from failing. This tallies also with
my own observation; for a spot in the middle of the creek over which, fifteen
years since, my old schoolmate, W. 8S. Mersereau, and myself anchored our boat
in ten feet of water, has now become a bank of mud rising a foot above the
water. The rapidity of this filling-in process would seem to show that when the
wall was erected, it was built in the shallow water of the stream—a supposition
which makes the use to which the enclosure was put, as above hinted, still more

probable.

“The singular stones briefly described suggest by their positions the pur-
poses they served. The one last mentioned was probably the post to which the
Indians made fast their chain of canoes stretching diagonally across the stream,
when engaged in beating back and preventing the fish from running up and past
the opening in the weir (see map). The other larger stone (within the weir)
may have been used by the Indians in time of war or alarm, to secure and pro-
tect their fleet of war-canoes, by attaching them with thongs to this firmly-im-
bedded rock. Thus these works would secure their fleet from sudden attack or
surprise, until their forces could rally from the hill and prevent their capture—
the high bluffs, covered with large oaks, securing protection to the defenders of
the weir. This work, therefore, may have served a double purpose, viz., to catch
fish during peace, and as a harbor and place of protection for their canoes in
time of war. When, however, the slate reefs were worn away below in the bed
of the creek, and the water gradually subsided to its present limits, these works
became useless and were consequently abandoned. There are abundant evidences
to show that at one time Saratoga Lake (the source of Fish Creek) was twenty
to thirty feet higher.

“T offer these suggestions because, in the present stage of archeological
investigation, any fact that throws light upon the customs and habits of the for-
mer inhabitants of this country must be of value.”

There are probably similar structures in this country, which have not yet
attracted the attention of observers.
REPRESENTATIONS OF FISHES, AQUATIC MAMMALS, ETC.

In the first part of this work I have reproduced a series of designs of fishes
and aquatic mammals, executed by the cave-men of Europe, and bearing witness

REPRESENTATIONS OF FISHES, AQUATIC MAMMALS, ETC. 205

to their artistic bent as well as to their appreciation of the advantages they
derived from these denizens of the water. It may not be out of place if I give
some account of corresponding productions of the former inhabitants of this
country, who seem, however, to have preferred in similar imitations the plastic
to the graphic mode of execution, all specimens to which I can refer being either
pipes, or simply representations in stone or shell, or clay vessels of a fish-form.

Pipes.—I am not aware that there is among the many so-called “ platform-
pipes,’ exhumed from tumuli in Ohio and other western states, a single one
which exhibits a fish as principal object, while such imitations of birds, quadru-
peds, and even amphibians, are by no means rare. Many pipes of this descrip-
tion, all made of stone, were obtained by Messrs. Squier and Davis, in the course
of their exploration of earthworks in Ohio, from mounds within an embankment
of earth close to the Scioto River, four miles north of Chillicothe. This enclosure,
somewhat in the shape of a square with strongly-rounded angles, comprises an
area of thirteen acres, over which twenty-three mounds are (or were) scattered
without much regularity. It has been called ‘Mound City,” from the great
number of mounds within its precinct. In digging into the mounds, the explor-
ers discovered in many of them hearths, which furnished a great number of
relics; and from one of the hearths nearly two hundred of the above-mentioned
pipes were taken, not all entire, but partly cracked by the action of fire, or other-
wise damaged. In two of these pipes fishes are represented, but merely as
accessories to the principal figures, which form the receptacles of the smoking-
material.

Fic. 347. Fia. 348.

Fias. 347 and 348.—Stone pipes representing a heron feeding on a fish, and an otter with a fish in its
mouth. Mound near Chillicothe.

Fig. 347 shows the imitation of a tufted heron in the act of striking a fish.
It is a very good carving, composed of a brownish, speckled stone of no great
hardness.* The other pipe, Fig. 348, is carved in the shape of the fore-part of

* Squier and Davis: Ancient Monuments; p. 259.

206 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

an animal with a fish in its mouth. Squier and Davis call this animal an otter ;*
Mr. Stevens, however, supposes it to be the lamantin, manatee, or sea-cow (Zri-
chechus manatus, Lin.), a Mammal not met in the higher latitudes of North
America, but only on the coast of Florida.; The latter is a herbivorous animal,
and hence the artist probably would not have carved its likeness with a prey
befitting a carnivore. The first suggestion, therefore, may be the correct one.{
This specimen consists of a material analogous to that composing the heron-pipe,
and both are now in the Blackmore Museum, at Salisbury, England.

Fic. 349.—Clay pipe in the shape of a fish (?). Chattanooga.

The original of Fig. 349 is a pipe of burned clay, found at a considerable
depth below the surface, near Chattanooga, Tennessee, and belonging to Dr. J.
B. Nicklin, of that place. It is moulded in the form of what appears to bea
fish with widely-opened mouth, feebly-expressed fins, and unforked tail. The
eyes are indicated by roundish incisions, and the body is marked on both sides
with two rows of rudely-engraved lines, meeting in a median line. The form of
the fish appears to be altogether conventional, as none of the experts in ichthy-
ology whom I consulted was able to determine its character.§

Imitations in Stone and Shell.—Prehistoric carvings in stone or other ma-
terial, exhibiting the forms of fishes and aquatic mammals, it appears, have not
frequently been discovered in this country. Such as have fallen under my
notice, directly or indirectly, are here described.

Fig. 350 represents a rude imitation of a fish, preserved in the National
Museum. It consists of a rough, flat piece of greenish-gray slate, not quite half
an inch in thickness, and ground (even polished) around the edge; the indenta-

* Squier and Davis: Ancient Monuments; p. 257.
+ Stevens: Flint Chips; p. 429.
{ There are among the pipes of ‘* Mound City’ several thought to be imitations of the lamantin.

§ The pipe has even been thought to represent the head of a snake.

REPRESENTATIONS OF FISHES, AQUATIC MAMMALS, ETC. 207

tion of the tail, however, is produced by the process of pecking. Mouth and
eyes are indicated on both sides by incised lines. This specimen was obtained by
Lieutenant F. W. Ring from shell-heaps on the Stikine River, Alaska, which
Mr. Dall ascribes to a pre-Indian Innuit population. It remains uncertain
whether this rude relic was a mere trinket, or had some significance as an amulet
or a charm.

Fie. 350.—Piece of slate worked into the likeness of a fish. Alaska. (9796).

Similar doubts exist with regard to the object represented in Fig. 351. It
is a rather thin piece of iridescent /Haliotis-shell, cut with some skill into the
shape of a fish. The specimen, found by Mr. Schumacher on San Nicolas Island,
may have been a charm, or simply an ornament, if, indeed, it was not designed
for a more practical use, namely, that of an artificial bait employed in fishing
with a line. However, in view of its uncertain character, I have deemed it
preferable to refer to it merely as a fish-representation.

Fig. 351.—Fish-shaped object of Hadiotis-shell. San Nicolas Island. (20429).

The original of Fig. 352 on page 208, first brought to notice by Professor
Putnam, was dug out of the ground in a garden at Ipswich, Essex County, Mas-
sachusetts. The neighborhood of this place is mentioned as one particulary rich
in stone relics. I give Professor Putnam’s description of the object in full :-—

“This stone was evidently carved with care for the purpose of being worn
as an ornament, and was probably suspended from the neck. It is of a soft
slate, easily cut with a sharp, hard stone. The markings left in various places
by the carver, showing where his tool had slipped, indicate that no very delicate

208 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

instrument had been used, while the several grooves, made to carry out the idea
of the sculptor, indicate as plainly that the instrument by which they were made
had what we should call a rounded edge, hike that of a dull hatchet, as the
grooves are wider at the top than at the bottom, and the strize show that they
were made by a sort of sawing motion, or a rubbing of the instrument backwards
and forwards. In fact, the carver’s tool might have been almost any stone
implement, from an arrow-head to a skin-scraper, or any piece of hard, roughly-
chipped stone.

Fic. 352.—Stone-carving representing a fish. Ipswich.

“The figure represents the stone of natural size, its total length being two
and a half inches. It is of general uniform thickness, about one-fifth of an inch,
except where the angles are slightly rounded off on the front of the head and on
the abdominal outline, and the portion representing the forked tail, or caudal
fin, which is rapidly and symmetrically thinned to its edges, as is the notched
portion representing the dorsal fin.

“The carving was evidently intended to represent a fish, with some peculiar
ideas of the artist added and several important characters left out. The three
longitudinal grooves in front represent the mouth and jaws, while the transverse
eroove at their termination gives a limit to the length of the jaw, and a very
decided groove on the under side divides the under jaw into its right and left
portions. The eyes are represented as slight depressions at the top of the head.
The head is separated from the abdominal portion by a decided groove, and the
caudal fin is well represented by the forked portion, from the centre of which the
rounded termination of the whole projects. In this part there is an irregularly
made hole of a size large enough to allow a strong cord to pass through for the
purpose of suspension. The portion of the sculpture rising in the place of a
dorsal fin is in several ways a singular conception of the ancient carver. While
holding the position of a dorsal fin, it points the wrong way, if we regard the
portion looking so much like a shark’s tooth as intended to represent the fin as
a whole. It is very likely that the designer wished to show that the fin was not
connected with the head, and, as he was confined by the length of the piece of
stone, after making the head so much out of proportion, he was forced to cut

REPRESENTATIONS OF FISHES, AQUATIC MAMMALS, ETC. 209

under the anterior portion of the fin, in order to express the fact. If we regard
it in this light, the notches on the upper edge may be considered as indicating
the fin-rays; but the figure best shows the character of the sculpture, and
persons interested can draw their own conclusions.

“The symmetry of the whole carving is well carried out, both sides being
alike, with the exception that the raised portion at the posterior part of what I
have called the dorsal fin is a little more marked on the left side than on the
right, and the edge on the same side is surrounded by a faint, irregularly-drawn
line.

‘The carving was, I think, unquestionably made by an Indian of the tribe
once numerous in this vicinity, and, as it was almost beyond a doubt cut by a
stone tool of some kind, it must be considered as quite an ancient work of art,
probably worn as a ‘medicine,’ and possibly indicated either the name of the
wearer or that he was a noted fisherman.’’*

This specimen is probably still in possession of the finder.

Professor Putnam has also given an account of a stone-carving representing
a cetacean animal, preserved in the collection of the Amesbury Natural History
Club. It is here represented in two views as Fig. 353. I describe it in his own
words, merely changing the past into the present tense :—

ae
2

Fra. 353.—Stone-carving in the form of a cetacean. Seabrook.

“Tt rudely represents a porpoise, or, still better, a white whale or Beluga,
as it has no protuberance representing the dorsal fin of the porpoise, and the

* Putnam: Description of an Ancient Indian Carving, found in Ipswich, Mass.; Bulletin of the Essex
Institute, Vol. IV, No. 11.

R27

210 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

Beluga is without the fin. The flippers or pectoral fins are represented by the
protuberances on the sides, and the mouth is cut in and well indicated. Tho
broad horizontal tail is decidedly cetacean in character, and the whole carving,
though rudely done by picking the syenitie rock, from which it is made, with
stone implements, is yet so characteristic as to indicate at once that a porpoise
or Beluga was intended. A hole through the portion representing the tail shows
that the object was suspended, but the stone is so large.and heavy that it can
hardly be classed as a personal ornament, though it is probably to be regarded
as atotem. It measures ten inches in length by about two in depth at the
pectoral fins, and is about two and a quarter inches wide across the pectorals as
measured on the under side. This interesting specimen was found at Seabrook,
New Hampshire, and it is said that two other similarly worked stones have been
found at the same place. The figures here given represent the ‘totem’ in profile

and from the under side.’’*

Among the relics collected by Mr. Schumacher on the Santa Barbara
Islands is a series of curious stone-sculptures, in some of which certain animals
can be recognized, while others are so conventional in execution that it requires
much fancy to ascribe to them any definite character. It is probable, at any
rate, that they represent charms, perhaps designed to insure the capture of the
animals they are intended to imitate. M. Léon de Cessac likewise obtained a
number of such objects on San Nicolas Island, and he has described them with
great precision.y He calls them fetiches; but I hardly think this term here
applicable in its English acceptation.

I give representations of two specimens found by Mr. Schumacher on San
Nicolas Island, and both carved from a greenish-gray steatitic material.

The original of Fig. 8354 seems to be a conventional representation of some
cetacean animal, the identification of which would be a difficult task. The
maker, perhaps, thought of the fin-back (Balenoptera) or killer (Orca). The
base of the figure measures one inch from fin to fin, insomuch that it will stand
when placed on a level surface.

The other specimen, shown in Fig. 355, is an imitation of a seal, the general
contour of the figure and the distinct flippers leaving no doubt as to its character.
This object is much weathered all over by exposure, and the original of Fig. 354
on the side not seen in the illustration. Both are evidently old.

* Putnam: Description of a Carved Stone representing a Cetacean, found at Seabrook, N. H.; Bulletin of the
Essex Institute; Vol. V, June, 1878.
A
+ De Cessac: Observations sur des Fétiches de Pierre sculptés en forme d’Animaux, découverts a 1’Ile de
San Nicolas (Californie); Revue d’Ethnographie, publiée sous la Direction de M. le Dr. Hamy; Vol. I, Paris,
1882; p. 30, ete

REPRESENTATIONS OF FISHES, AQUATIC MAMMALS, ETC. 211

Many carvings of ivory, bone, and stone, in the shape of fishes, whales,
seals, etc., derived from Indians and Innuits of the Northwest Coast, are exhib-
ited in the National Museum. Some of these specimens probably represent

Fra. 354.—Stone-carving representing a cetacean. San Nicolas Island. (20426).

charms, while others, perhaps, have a totemie or mythological significance; not a
few may be nothing but trinkets. I have not at present sufficient data for a
proper characterization.

Fig. 355.—Stone-carving in the shape of a seal. San Nicolas Island. (20428).

Clay Vessels—There are in the National Museum a few of the fish-shaped
vessels to which allusion was made. The most characteristic among these
objects, which were obtained from mounds and burial-grounds in the Mississippi
Valley, is represented in Fig. 356 on the following page.

It was presented by General J. H. Devereux, with several other specimens
of pottery, which had been exhumed from a burial-site adjacent to the Missis-
sippi, nearly nineteen miles (measured with the stream) below Helena, in
Phillips County, Arkansas.* The object seen from above, as in the illustration,

* For the following communication relative to the discovery of this burial-place and its character, I am
indebted to General Devereux :—

‘« The specimens were procured during the year 1859, and under the following circumstances, as related to me
by Mr. Jerome B. Pillow, a brother of General Gideon J. Pillow. Mr. Pillow’s plantation was to be protected

by a levee, and he had undertaken to build it.
“Tn constructing the levee across the two lakes, called Long Lake and Old Town Lake, a large quantity of

212 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

presents the form of a fish, in which ichthyologists have recognized the sun-fish
(Pomotis), an inhabitant of the Mississippi River. Its distinctive features are
said to be rendered with sufficient faithfulness to permit identification. The
neck of this interesting piece of pottery, which consists of grayish clay with a
slight admixture of pounded shells, measures a little more than an inch in
height; its lower part is rounded like that of a bowl, and terminates in a flat
base on which the vessel can stand. The height from the bottom to the rim of
the neck is exactly four inches. The other clay vessels of this form on exhibition
in the National Museum likewise seem to be intended to represent the sun-fish ;
but they are less expressive in character than the object here figured.

bie

Fra. 3856.—Clay vessel made in imitation of the sun-fish. Arkansas. (7293).

earth was needed, to procure which Mr. Pillow commenced removing the material from what turned out to have
been the site of an ancient cemetery of great extent. Hundreds of human skeletons of all ages and both sexes
were exhumed, and generally some article of pottery was found near each skeleton. The bodies had been buried
in a sitting posture, and were found from three to ten feet below the surface, the bones being in all cases in a
perfect state of preservation. Trees from three to five feet in diameter were growing near the human remains,
and, as indicative of the antiquity of the burial-place, one of the trees particularly noted and described by Mr.
Pillow was a sassafras-tree, which, having attained the diameter of five feet, had passed from maturity into natu-
ral and gradul decay, until withered and wasted away: only its roots were then sound.

‘There had been no previous knowledge or record of this ancient cemetery ; but a legend of the early set-
tlers had located at or near this spot the camp in which De Soto wintered in ascending the Mississippi. It is the
highest elevation of land for many miles along the river.

‘“‘ Mr. Pillow secured at least fifty perfect specimens of pottery, of which I procured several which are now in
the Smithsonian Institution. Some of the finest of the vessels I could not obtain. One of them, in the shape of
a quadruped, and of a capacity of several quarts, was of great interest to me, because I had seen a similar vessel

taken from a grave in Egypt.’

REPRESENTATIONS OF FISHES, AQUATIC MAMMALS, ETC. 213

Fig. 357 represents a fish-shaped vessel found during the explorations of
aboriginal burial-places in Southeastern Missouri, in the region where New
Madrid is situated. These explorations, as known, brought to light a large
number of clay vessels. The figure is copied from a quarto volume prepared
under the auspices of the Archeological Section of the Saint Louis Academy
of Science.* The vessel is thus described:— “A very neat specimen of baked
ware; the color is a pale yellow, and the curves denoting the scales are painted
in white.” My endeavors to learn under what special circumstances it was
found, and where it is preserved, proved fruitless.

ts}

Fic. 357.—Fish-shaped clay vessel. Missouri.

This specimen of pottery bears much resemblance to a certain class of fish-
shaped Peruvian vessels, of which mention will be made in the appendix to this
work.

Delineations.—The notched stone sinker represented in Fig. 261 on page 160 is
the only object in the National Museum, which has a bearing on prehistoric fish-
ing in the present territory of Mexico. Upon inquiry, I learned from Sr. Don
Gumesindo Mendoza, Director of the Museo Nacional of Mexico, that relies illus-
trative of fishing as practised by the inhabitants of the Aztec empire are wanting
in that institution. Yet, the Mexicans undoubtedly acquired a great part of
their subsistence by fishing, and this is confirmed by the early authors treating
of their affairs. Fish-ponds in Mexico and other places of the country are

* Contributions to the Archeology of Missouri; Part I. Pottery (by Dr. Ed. Evers); Salem, Mass., 1880 ;
Fig. 4 on Plate 9.

214 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

repeatedly mentioned by them; Cortés himself, in one of his letters to the em-
peror Charles the Fifth, speaks of these tanks. He also states there that great
quantities of fish—fresh, salt, uncooked, and cooked—were sold in the market of
Tenochtitlan.* Montezuma’s table, it is even said, was frequently provided with
fish from the Gulf of Mexico, brought to the capital by runners, twenty-four
hours after their capture. The name of Michoacan, one of the Mexican pro-
vinces, means “the place where possessors of fish live.” Opochtli received
homage as the patron of Mexican fishermen. ‘The god Opochtli,” says Saha-
gun, “was placed among the number of the Tlaloques, which signifies inhabi-
tants of the terrestrial paradise; yet people generally were convinced that he
was only aman. They ascribed to him the invention of fishing-nets and of an
implement called minacachalli, used in killing fish, and resembling a fork armed
with three prongs, like a trident. It was also used in hunting birds. He had
likewise invented bird-snares and paddles.+ According to the Abbé Clavigero,
it appears that he was known under different names. ‘In Cuitlahuac, a city
upon a little island in the lake of Chalco,” says that author, “there was a god
of fishing highly honored, named Amimitl, who probably differed from Opochtli
no otherwise than in name.”

Notwithstanding these different data evidencing the importance of fishing
among the Mexicans, I have in the course of my reading found but little that
would serve to elucidate the methods employed by them in that pursuit. Clavi-
gero, a comparatively recent, but acknowledged, authority, confines himself to
the observation that they commonly made use of nets in fishing, but that they

”

also employed hooks, harpoons, and weirs.§

Some designs in the collection of Mexican pictographs, called the Mendoza
Codex, show that the male youth in Mexico received at an early age instruction
in fishing. These pictures were executed by native artists shortly after the con-
quest, during the administration of the viceroy, Antonio de Mendoza, and sent
by him, with interpretations in Aztec and Spanish, as a present to the emperor
Charles the Fifth. A copy of this codex in the Bodleian Library at Oxford has
been reproduced in the first volume of Lord Kingsborough’s “ Mexican Antiqui-
ties”? (London, 1831). The codex consists of three parts, treating, respectively,

* “ Venden mucho peseado fresco, y salado, crudo, y guisado.’’—Lorenzana: Historia de Méjico, escrita por su
Esclarecido Conquistador, Hernan Cortés; New York, 1828; p. 150.

+ Sahagun: Histoire Générale des Choses de la Nouvelle-Espagne; traduite et annotée par D. Jourdanet et
Remi Siméon; Paris, 1880; p. 86.—Bernardino de Sahagun, a Francisan, came to Mexico in 1529 and died there
in 1590. He is the chief authority on Mexican mythology.

{ Clavigero: The History of Mexico; translated by Charles Cullen; Philadelphia, 1817; Vol. II, p. 22.—
The Italian original of Clavigero’s work was published at Cesena, in 1780.

§ Ibid.; Vol. IL; p. 187.

REPRESENTATIONS OE FISHES, AQUATIC MAMMALS, ETC. 215

of the history of Mexico, of the tributes paid to its rulers, and of the social
state, including education, among the Mexicans.

Fia. 359.

Fias, 358 and 359.—Fac-simile delineations illustrating Aztec navigation and fishing, From
the Mendoza Codex.

On the sixty-first plate, which is the third of the last part, several groups
illustrating the training of boys and girls are drawn. One of the groups (Fig.
358) shows a father, seated and speaking (as indicated by a symbol before his
mouth), and two boys of thirteen years. One of them carries reeds or sticks to
a canoe already partly loaded, and the other stands in it, handling a paddle.
The age of the boys is denoted by thirteen circles or dots, and two connected
ovals marked with small dashes indicate that they were allowed two cakes or

216 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

tortillas for a meal. In the other group (Fig. 359 on the preceding page) a
father superintends the fishing of his son of fourteen years, who stands in the
canoe, dropping into it a fish, or fishes, caught with a scoop-net. The meal of the
boy still consists of two tortillas.

Though the boats here figured are unproportionally small, we learn at least
how they were shaped. We also become cognizant of the fact that the Aztecs
used scoop-nets.

Some other designs relating to fishing, in the Codex Borgianus (College of
the Propaganda at Rome) and the Codex Vaticanus, both reproduced in the
third volume of Kingsborough’s work, are not sufficiently illustrative to warrant
reproduction in this place.

ARTIFICIAL SHELL-DEPOSITS.

Introductory Notices.—Vhe accummulations of shells owing their origin to
human agency, which, as formerly stated, occur in various places on the North
American sea-coasts, correspond in many respects to the Danish kjékkenméd-
dings described in the first part of this work; but, while the period of abandon-
ment of the latter is lost in the dawn of history, some of those found in this
country were doubtless still in the process of formation in recent times; for
modes of life, which had long ago ceased to exist in Europe, continued to prevail
among certain tribes of North America.

Cabeza de Vaca was the first to allude to North American shell-deposits.
He sojourned as a prisoner on an island (Jsla del Mathado) in the Gulf of Mex-
ico, watched by a number of Indians, who, on account of a famine on that island,
were compelled to leave it. They proceeded to terra firma, visiting the neigh-
boring bays, which abounded in oysters. ‘ For three months,” the Spanish author
says, ‘they subsist on these shell-fish, and drink very bad water. Wood is there
very rare, and the country full of mosquitoes. They construct their cabins of
mats, and erect them on heaps of oyster-shells, upon which they sleep naked.’*

The Jesuit missionary, Father Isaac Jogues, refers incidentally to shell-
heaps which he noticed in 1643 on Manhattan Island:— ‘There are some
houses built of stone. Lime they make of oyster-shells, great heaps of which
are found here, made formerly by the savages, who subsist in part by that
fishery.”’*+

* Cabeza de Vaca: Naufragios; p. 16.—‘ Sus Casas son edificadas de Esteras, sobre muchas Cascaras de Hos-

tiones, i sobre ellos duermen encueros.”?

+ Jogues: Narrative of a Captivity among the Mohawk Indians, a Description of New Netherland in 1642-3,
and other Papers. With a Memoir of the Author, by John Gilmary Shea; New York, 1857; p. 57.—In the
original:— ‘Tl y a quelques logis bastys de pierre; ils font la chaux avec des coquilles d’huistres dont il y a de
grans monceaux faits autrefois par les suuvages, qui vivent en partie de cette pesche.”’

ARTIFICIAL SHELL-DEPOSITS. 217

The artificial deposits of shells attracted the attention of the Swedish travel-
er, Professor Peter Kalm, who arrived in North America in 1748, and he makes
repeated mention of them.* ‘Some Englishmen,” he states, ‘asserted that near
the river Potomack, in Virginia, a great quantity of oyster-shells were to be met
with, and that they themselves had seen whole mountains of them. The place
where they are found is said to be about two English miles distant from the sea-
shore. The proprietor of that ground burns lime out of them. This stratum of
oyster-shells is two fathom and more deep. Such quantities of shells have
likewise been found in other places, especially in New York, on digging in the
ground; and in one place, at the distance of some English miles from the sea, a
vast quantity of oyster-shells and of other shells was found. Some people con-
jectured that the natives had formerly lived in that place, and had left the shells
of the oysters which they had consumed in such great heaps. But others could
not conceive how it happened that they were thrown in such immense quantities
all into one place.’+ This shows at least that the origin of North American
shell-heaps was a matter of speculation more than a century ago.

Professor Kalm also draws attention to the existence of deposits of fluviatile
shells, which indicate the places where the aborigines feasted on fresh-water
mollusks. In one of his notes, dated Raccoon, New Jersey, March 2, 1749, he
says:— ‘“ Mytilus anatinus, a kind of muscle-shells, was found abundantly in
little furrows, which crossed the meadows. The shells were frequently covered
on the outside with a thin crust of particles of iron, when the water in the fur-
rows came from an iron mine. The Englishmen and Swedes settled here seldom
make any use of these shells; but the Jndians who formerly lived here broiled
them and eat the flesh. Some of the Ewropeans eat them sometimes.” t

According to Dr. D. G. Brinton, the artificial character of many of these
deposits was first brought prominently before the scientific public by Mr. Lard-
ner Vanuxem, in the “ Proceedings of the American Association of Geologists
and Naturalists ” for 1840-42 (page 21, etc.). I have not seen his article, which,
as Dr. Brinton states, refers to shell-heaps on the shores of the Chesapeake and
its affluent streams, on the Jersey shore, and Long Island.§

During his second visit to the United States Sir Charles Lyell observed
shell-accumulations on the coasts of Massachusetts and Georgia, notably on Saint
Simon’s Island, near the mouth of the Altamaha River. His account of what
he saw on that island is so concise and characteristic that I cannot refrain from
quoting it in this place :—

* His notice of shell-deposits in the neighborhood of New York is given in the “ Extracts,”

+ Kalm: Travels into North America; translated by John Reinhold Forster; London, 1772; Vol. I, p. 76.
{ Ibid.; Vol. I, p. 374.—The place formerly called Raccoon is now Swedesborough in Gloucester County.

§ Brinton: Artificial Shell-Deposits of the United States ; Smithsonian Report for 1866; p. 356.

R28

218 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

‘We landed on the northeast end of Saint Simon’s Island, at Cannon’s
Point, where we were gratified by the sight of a curious monument of the
Indians, the largest mound of shells left by the aborigines in any one of the sea-
islands. Here are no less than ten acres of ground, elevated in some places ten
feet, and on an average over the whole area five feet, above the general level,
composed throughout that depth of myriads of cast oyster-shells, with some
mussels, and here and there a modiola and helix. They who have seen the
Monte Testaceo, near Rome, know what great results may proceed from insig-
nificant causes where the cumulative power of time has been at work, so that a
hill may be formed out of the broken pottery rejected by the population of a
large city. To them it will appear unnecessary to infer, as some antiquaries
have done, from the magnitude of these Indian mounds, that they must have
been thrown up by the sea. In refutation of such an hypothesis, we have the
fact that flint arrow-heads, stone axes, and fragments of Indian pottery have been
detected throughout the mass.’”*

Shortly after Sir Charles Lyell’s visit to this country, the reports on Danish
kjokkenmoddings by Messrs. Forchhammer, Steenstrup, and Worsaae (published
in 1850-56) became known on this side of the Atlantic, and, of course, stimu-
lated naturalists and antiquaries to a closer examination of similar refuse-heaps
along our sea-boards. Indeed, since then such investigations and printed accounts
of them have become so numerous that I can barely refer in this publication to
a number of examples sufficient to illustrate the character of deposits of shells,
both of marine and fluvial origin, in different parts of North America. I avail
myself of the copious literature on the subject as well as of several written
communications setting forth the results of personal observation.

Greenland.—Having found no references to shell-heaps in Greenland, either
in Kgede’s or in Cranz’s descriptions of that country—the subject, as stated,
being one which has only in later years attracted the attention of investigators—
I will record here some of the observations made by the distinguished scientist,
Baron A. E. Nordenskiéld :—

“As a Greenlander now seldom resides at any distance from the Danish
trading-stations, one finds in numberless places along the coast old deserted
dwelling-places. They are recognizable at a distance by the lively verdure
arising from the rich vegetation, which the remnants of fishing and hunting-prey
scattered round the cottages or tents have produced. On taking a few spadefuls
of earth, or on examining the walls of the new houses,—generally built with
turf taken from these spots,—one everywhere finds the earth and grass-roots
mixed with the bones of the animals which the Greenlanders hunt. The animals

* Sir Charles Lyell: A Second Visit to the United States of America; New York, 1849; Vol. I, p. 252.

ARTIFICIAL SHELL-DEPOSITS. 219

killed by the men are in fact cleansed by the women beside or in the cottage
itself, and the refuse after the cleansing or the meal is thrown away—seldom
far from the cottage-door. Even now, in the course of years, a heap is fre-
quently collected as truly circular as if it had been drawn with a pair of com-
passes round the door as a centre. On examining its contents, it is found to
consist of a black, fat earth, formed of decayed refuse—frequently bits of bone
enawed asunder and broken, shells, especially those of Mytilus, lost or broken
household-goods, ete. This bone-mixed earth most likely contains, like guano,
not only considerable quantities of phosphoric acid, but also ammoniac salts,
and it may happen that the trade of Greenland may find in this a valuable
article of export.

“As the kitchen-midden dates from the stone age in Greenland,—which
undoubtedly extended beyond the epoch at which the whalers first began to visit
these coasts,—we find in it arrow-heads, skin-scrapers, and other instruments of
various kinds in stone, and especially a quantity of stone flakes knocked off in
forming the instruments, easily recognizable, not only by their form, but by their
consisting of stones—chalcedony, agate, and especially green jasper (called by
the Greenlanders ‘angmak’)—not met with in the gneiss-formation, but only
at certain spots in the basalt-region of Disko or the peninsula of Noursoak.
One sometimes finds smaller instruments of clear quartz, also half-wrought
erystals of the same mineral. Everything shows that the material was carefully
chosen among such minerals as united the necessary hardness with absence of
cleavage and a flat conchoidal fracture. Among minerals, in general, the differ-
ent varieties of quartz (rock-crystal, agate, chalcedony, flint, and jasper) are the
only ones which fully satisfy these conditions; and it is therefore almost exclu-
sively these minerals that the various races of man have chosen for making their
chipped (not ground) stone instruments.

“The two largest of the old house-sites, among which we were now resting
(near the ice-fjord of Jakobshavn, West’ Greenland), lay so near the sea that
their bases were washed by the water. A small stream had found its way
through one of them, and had thus not only exposed a section of the kitchen-
midden, but also subjected a part of it to a washing-process, in consequence of
which bits of bone and other heavier objects lay clean-washed at the bottom of
the channel and in the hollows of the gneiss-slabs of the shore. These were

-carefully examined, and a number of stone instruments and stone chips were

collected. There were no traces of iron; but we found a small oval perforated
piece of copper, which had evidently once served as an ornament. At the largest
site a tolerably thick circular stone wall, eight or ten feet high, and twenty-six
in section, was still distinguishable, divided into two unequal portions by a
party-wall. The entrance seems to have led into the larger of these areas, judg-
ing from the extensive kitchen-midden just outside it. In one of the other heaps

220 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

of bones a flat stone was found, so large as to require the united efforts of several
Greenlanders to turn it. They declared that the workshop for the fabrication of
stone instruments must have been situated on that spot, and expected accordingly
to find a great. quantity of chips in its vicinity, which, however, the result of
their searches did not confirm.

“The kitchen-midden outside the large cot rested on a low slab of gneiss,
separated from it by a thin layer of turf, in which was no trace of any piece
of bone, and which had therefore been formed before the place was inhabited.
In other respects this turf, of which specimens were taken away, was perfectly
like the earth which was mixed with bones and stone chips. Here there were
no Mytilus-shells, though these are everywhere else found around Greenland
dwellings: an indication that formerly the inhabitants were not obliged to have
recourse to this species of famine-food.

“To discover the various animal forms that had here been the prey of the
hunter, Dr. Oberg collected a quantity of bones, in which work the Greenlanders
took a lively interest, usually determining with great certainty the species to
which the pieces of bone had belonged.

“The following species could be ascertained: Cervus tarandus, Ursus mari-
timus, Trichechus rosmarus, Cystophora cristata, Phoca barbata, Phoca grenlandica,
Phoca hispida, Phoca vitulina, Delphinapterus leucas.

“Even if we suppose that this spot was first inhabited shortly after the
Eskimos entered Greenland by Smith’s Sound, its age will be scarcely more than
five hundred years, a period generally too short to show marks of the slow but
continuous changes to which the organic world is subjected. Neither do the
kitchen-middens of Kaja* contain any other forms of animals than those still
living on the coast of Greenland. Nevertheless we obtain here an interesting
confirmation of the changes that the ice-fjord has undergone. The walrus, Phoca
barbata, and Cystophora cristata no longer venture into this long ice-blockaded
fjord; and even the bear has now become so scarce in the colonies of North
Greenland south of the Waigat that most of the Danes resident in those parts
have never seen it. The remnants of bones in the kitchen-middens, on the other
hand, prove that these animals were abundant there formerly, and are conse-
quently an evidence that the fjord at Jakobshavn was less filled with ice than

now.’

Dr. Emil Bessels makes the following statements concerning the formation
of refuse-heaps in Greenland :—

* Name of the place.

+ Nordenskidld: Account of an Expedition to Greenland in the year 1870; Manual of the Natural History,
Geology, and Physics of Greenland and the Neighboring Regions, ete.; edited by Professor T. Rupert Jones ;
London, 1875; p. 412, ete.

ARTIFICIAL SHELL-DEPOSITS. 221

“The Eskimo throws bones, shells, fishes, skins which have become useless,
in short everything that is of no value to him for the moment, before his hut,
in consequence of which a rich vegetation springs up, noticeable from afar by its
fresh verdure. A short time suffices to discover in these kjOkkenméddings traces
of nearly all usable vertebrate animals of the Greenlandic coast, and in many
cases it would not be difficult to determine the season of the year in which these
layers were formed ; for sometimes the remains of birds predominate ; sometimes
those of fishes; or there are strata almost exclusively composed of Mytilus-
shells.’’*

Nova Scotia —Mr. J. M. Jones, President of the Nova Scotian institute of
Natural History, at Halifax, communicated in 1863 to the “ London Athenzeum”
a brief report of the examination of a shell-heap on the shore of Saint Margaret’s
Bay, distant about twenty-two miles from Halifax, the capital of Nova Scotia.
This account was reprinted in the Smithsonian Report for 1863. The shell-
deposit chiefly noticed les, some twenty feet above high-water mark, on the
shore of one of the smaller bays or coves, that has a sandy beach, where canoes
could be hauled up without difficulty. The deposit, about fifty yards or more in
length, by eight yards in breadth, but only eighteen inches deep, forms part of a
farm, and is covered with two or three inches of soil, producing grass and com-
mon field-plants. The shells themselves, perfect and broken, form a compact
layer, which was found to inclose bones of quadrupeds, birds, and fishes, large
and small teeth, flint and quartz arrow and spear-heads, bone awls, and many
fragments of rudely-made pottery, dark-colored, and containing grains of grani-
tic sand, and mica in quantity. Pebbles, about the size of a man’s fist, and bear-
ing traces of having undergone the action of fire, occurred in the deposit, and also
charcoal. Rounded granitic boulders lying scattered on the heap are supposed
to have served as seats, and on digging around them, greater masses of shells
and more evident traces of fire were discovered. The deposit consisted chiefly
of shells of the quahaug or hard-shell clam (Venus mercenaria) and soft-shell
clam (Mya arenaria). There were also found the shells of the scallop (Pecten
islandicus), boat-shell (Crepidula fornicata), and mussel (Mytilus edulis), those of
the latter in a very friable state. Vertebrze of two or three species of fishes
came to light, and some well-preserved opercular spines of the Norway haddock
(Sebastes norvegicus), which probably were used as piercing-tools. The moose,
bear, beaver, and porcupine, represented by broken bones and teeth, constituted
the mammalian fauna; and the presence of birds, belonging to several species,
could likewise be traced by their bones, which were partly broken, one in par-
ticular having been opened down the side by means of a cutting-instrument.

No object betokening a connection with the whites occurred in this deposit.+

* Bessels: Die Amerikanische Nordpol-Expedition ; Leipzig, 1879; p. 47.
7 Smithsonian Report for 1863, p. 370, ete.

222 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

New Brunswick and New England.—Between the years 1869 and ’73, Pro-
fessor 8S. F. Baird made several visits to New Brunswick and New England,
during which he examined a number of shell-deposits in those districts; but
the notes in which he details his observations have but lately been published.
I will single out some of the more important localities visited by him.

The largest shell-mound was seen at Oak Bay, a narrow fjord extending
northward from Passamaquoddy Bay, New Brunswick. The total thickness of
the bed, which consisted of a number of distinct layers, amounted to five feet.
“A striking feature in this mound is the abundance of spikes and shells of
Echini, which evidently constituted a large portion of the food of the aborigines.
A careful examination of the ashes indicated that they were derived, for the
most part, from eel-grass (Zostera marina), and it is suggested that the cooking
of the shells was done by wrapping them up in dry eel-grass and setting fire to
it. This would probably cook the animals sufficiently to enable them to be
readily withdrawn from the shell.”* The principal shells here found were
Buecinum plicosum, Natica heros, Pecten tenuicostatus, Pecten cardium, Mya are-
naria, Mytilus, and Helix alternata.

Another interesting bed was seen on Frye’s or Cailiff’s Island, New Bruns-
wick. ‘ Here the shell-bed was a very large one, about fifteen feet above the
present high tide, and seemed to have been torn up by the tide and restratified
by the water, so that articles of the same kind and specific gravity were usually
found in association.”

Other points .in New Brunswick and several localities in Eastern Maine
were examined. Resuming his observations, Professor Baird says:— “They
are characterized in some cases by large beds of shells of the soft clam (Mya
arenaria)—never of the quahaug or Venus mercenaria—with a little admixture
of earth; in others the shells are in a much decomposed condition, with black
earth scattered among them; again, by the association of large bones, especially
of the moose and caribou, with but little mixture of anything else. Occasionally
these beds alternated with pure shell or pure bone, possibly the shells being
aggregated in summer and the bones of mammals in winter. Everywhere the
bones of the great auk were found, as also those of the beaver.’’+

At Damariscotta, Lincoln County, Maine, the extensive beds consist almost
entirely of oysters. They cover many acres to a depth of from five to fifteen
or twenty feet. The oysters are large, and generally narrow or slipper-shaped.
Very few are now found living in the vicinity.

* Baird: Notes on certain Shell-Mounds on the Coast of New Brunswick and of New England; Proceedings
of the United States National Museum; Vol. IV, Washington, 1882; p. 292.

Remains of the Zostera marina, it will be remembered, also occurred in the Danish kjékkenméddings, where
this sea-plant is supposed to have been used in the production of salt. See p. 85 of this work.

+ Ibid.; p. 296.

ARTIFICIAL SHELL-DEPOSITS. 223)

The shell-beds at Eagle Hill, Ipswich, Massachusetts, are of considerable
extent, and consist largely of the Mya arenaria, a species still abounding in the
neighborhood. It forms an important article of commerce, being used as bait
for codfish. Bones of the great auk* were frequent at this place.

On the whole, stone implements were found to be comparatively rare in the
shell-deposits of Southern Massachusetts.

The collections made on these occasions (shells, bones, chipped and ground
stone implements, and fragments of pottery) are on exhibition in the National
Museum.

In company with a number of associates, Professor Jeffries Wyman exam-
ined in 1867 some shell-heaps on the coasts of Maine and Massachusetts, and
published in the following year an account of his explorations in the “ American
Naturalist” for 1868. It has already been quoted in this work. .

He examined deposits on Frenchman’s Bay, between the main-land and
Mount Desert Island, and on Crouch’s Cove, situated on Goose Island, Casco Bay,
in Maine. His explorations in Massachusetts were confined to deposits at Ipswich
(Eagle Hill), Salisbury, and Cotuit Port in the township of Barnstable (Cape
Cod). The mammalian fauna of these shell-accumulations represents seventeen
species, all still living, and including man, whose presence was only indicated
by the discovery of a bone of the foot at Cotuit Port. The bird-remains were
referable to the great auk, razor-bill, duck (three species), wild turkey, and
heron. Two kinds of tortoise have been met with. The fish-remains are those
of the shark, cod (Morrhua americana), and goose-fish (Lophius americanus) ; and
of shell-fish, the whelk (Buccinum undatum), two species of conch (Pyrula carica
and Pyrula canaliculata), oyster (Ostrea borealis), clam (Mya arenaria), quahaug
( Venus mercenaria), mussel (Mytilus edulis), scallop (Pecten tenuicostatus and Pec-
ten islandicus), and hen-clam (MJactra) are mentioned. These mollusks probably
were all used as food; several other species, likewise found in the shell-deposits,
are supposed to have been accidently introduced. The bones of deer and of
birds were the most numerous, and of the former “not one was whole, all having
been broken up for the double purpose of extracting the marrow, a custom almost
world-wide among savages, and often practised by hunters, and of accommodating
them to the size of the vessel in which they were cooked.”+ In the bird-bones
the ends had mostly disappeared, and many bore traces of having been gnawed
by animals. The discovery of fire-places is repeatedly mentioned.

Fragments of pottery and stone implements were rare, but articles of bone
(piercers, harpoon-heads) of more frequent occurrence.y

* Now considered as entirely extinct. See p. 36 of this publication.
+ Wyman: An Account, etc.; p. 575.

{ Fig 221 on p. 142 and Fig. 242 on p. 150 represent bone dart-heads found at Crouch’s Cove,

224 PREHISTORIC FISHING.
Concerning the age of these shell-deposits, Professor Wyman remarks :—

‘The shell-heaps we have here described yield nothing which indicates as
high an antiquity as those of the old world. The materials of them present
some variety in the degree of decomposition which has resulted from time and
exposure, the lower layers being much more disintegrated and friable, the shells,
in fact, falling to pieces, while those of the upper ones generally preserve their
original firmness. That there was a difference in time in which these layers
were deposited is further indicated by the fact that, in two of the heaps, a stratum
of earth is interposed between the earlier and later deposits, as if the locality
had been abandoned as a camping-place, and then after a prolonged absence of
the natives had been reoccupied. Each heap, too, is covered with a deposit of
earth and vegetable mould, of variable thickness, and in some cases, as at
Frenchman’s Bay, supporting a growth of forest-trees, though these were nowhere
of such size as to indicate that they had lived a century. — — —

“On the other hand, it may be safely said that there is nothing in the con-
dition of these heaps which is inconsistent with the hypothesis that they were
begun many centuries ago. The examinations at Crouch’s Cove, Eagle Hill, and
Cotuit Port were sufficiently extended to enable us to obtain a fair representation
of the objects they contain; but in no case was there found, nor have we been
able to learn that there had been previously found, a single article which could
be regarded as having been made by, or derived from, the white man, nor did
we obtain any evidence that these particular heaps had been materially added to
since the European has occupied these shores. Had intercourse with Europeans
been once fairly established, it were a reasonable presumption that we should
have found at least a glass bead, a fragment of earthenware, or an instrument
of some sort indicative of the fact, especially when we bear in mind that it would
be in just such places, where the savages collected around their fires and seething-
pots to cook and eat, that such objects might be expected to be broken or lost.”

In addition, there seems to be historical evidence that a heavy growth of
trees was found on the deposits of clam-shells near Mount Desert Island by the
first settlers.*

Quite recently Professor Putnam has explored shell-heaps on Muscongus
Sound and the neighboring Damariscotta River, both inlets of the sea extending
into Lincoln County, Maine. These localities have been previously mentioned
in this publication, and the latter was noticed just now in connection with Pro-
fessor Baird’s examination of shell-deposits. The substance of a lecture on these
shell-heaps by Professor Putnam was published in the “ Boston Evening Tran-
script”? of November 13, 1882.

* Wyman: An Account, ete.; p. 571, ete.

ARTIFICIAL SHELL-DEPOSITS. 225

A shell-deposit at Keene’s Point, on Muscongus Sound, is four or five feet
thick on the water’s edge, and extends several hundred feet along the shore and
a hundred feet inland. The shells here found are those of the soft-shell clam,
which enters most largely into the formation of the heap, the quahaug (hard-
shell clam), scallop, whelk (Buecinum), and cockle (Natica). “Although the
bones of mammals were most often those of the moose, deer, bear, wolf, fox, and
beaver, yet there were also found bones of the otter, skunk, raccoon, woodchuck,
seal and porpoise. Bones of several species of birds occurred, also some bones
of the turtle, while fishes were represented by the cod, flounder, and great goose-
fish, giving with the mollusks quite an extended bill of fare. The bones and
shells were broken with hammer-stones, which are found scattered through the
heap.” Stone implements occurred rather frequently, and from the presence of
numerous chips it has been inferred that the former were made on the spot.
Bone implements were also met with.*

“The discovery of the art of pottery,” the lecturer stated, “seems to have
been made during the immense time these heaps were being formed, as I have
not found fragments of pottery in the lower portions of the older and larger
heaps, while such fragments are common in the upper beds and in the more
recent heaps.”

The extensive deposits at Damariscotta and Newcastle, situated opposite each
other on either side of the Damariscotta River, consist almost wholly of oyster-
shells. These oysters are slender and long (‘‘slipper-shaped,”’ as Professor
Baird calls them), many measuring fourteen inches in length, and now hardly
ever found of this shape and size on the coast of New England. “Old men at
Damariscotta say that their fathers have sometimes seen one, but it has probably
never been abundant since the time of the earliest settlement, so that we must
believe that these great heaps were formed long before that time.”

In the shell-heap at Newcastle a human skeleton was found a few years
ago, and Messrs. A. T. Gamage and A. I. Phelps discovered portions of five
skeletons in a shell-heap on Fort Island, in the Damariscotta River.

New York.—Allusion has been made on a preceding page to shell-heaps on
the coasts of New York. They are particularly numerous on Long Island, and
those in the neighborhood of Sag Harbor, on Gardiner’s Bay, in the eastern part
of the island, have been specially examined by Mr. W. Wallace Tooker, a
resident of that place. He has kindly communicated to me the following

description :—

* The bone dart-heads represented in Fig. 226 on p. 143 and Figs. 286 and 287 on p. 148, it will be remem-
bered, were found by Messrs. Gamage and Phelps in the course of their examination of shell-heaps on Damaris-

cotta River and Muscongus Sound.

R29

226 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

“Careful examination has disclosed the fact that shell-heaps, or kitchen-
middens, of greater or less extent abound upon the banks or shores of nearly
every body of water or swamp indenting or dotting Long Island.

‘Different authors have at various times mentioned these shell-heaps, yet
without attempting any description, probably for the reason that no thorough
examination of these deposits had been made at the time they wrote. Prime
speaks of ‘the immense shell-banks on the shores of Long Island’;* Gardiner
of the ‘many places whitened with the shells of clams around Gardiner’s Bay
and Three Mile Harbor.’+

“The shell-heaps found on that part of Long Island which lies between
Montauk Point and Canoe Place are more extensive and numerous, and have
been more carefully examined than others; but as they do not differ materially,
a description of a few of these will suffice for the rest. To show how numerous
these deposits are, the writer would state that he has located more than twenty-
five separate shell-heaps within a radius of two miles from Sag Harbor.

“These heaps consist of the shells of oysters, soft and hard-shell clams,
scallops, periwinkles, and mussels, mingled with ashes, charcoal, bones of mam-
mals, birds, and fishes, stone and bone implements, fragments of pottery, and
other refuse that would naturally accumulate in and around the dwelling of a
savage. West of the Otter Pond at Sag Harbor is a large heap, covering nearly
three acres. On its surface have been found hundreds of stone arrow-points and
other implements. A part of the deposit is still hidden under the leaves and soil
of the woods, and has never been disturbed. Along the cove beyond, for a
distance of about a mile and a half, is one almost continuous shell-heap. Back
on the southern slopes of the hills, near swamps and springs, are others, some
being an acre in area. At Payne’s Creek is one of the largest and most compact
shell-heaps on this part of Long Island. At the time the shells were accumu-
lating, the creek evidently flowed in front of the deposit, but now it is filled up,
and a. sandy country-road extends along its front. This deposit covers about
three acres, and is fully four feet in depth. There have been found in it bones
of the raccoon, bear, otter, fox, deer, and rabbit, a great variety of stone imple-
ments, bone awls, and a large fish-hook of bone.{ This shell-heap is being
rapidly destroyed by the march of improvement, and will soon disappear.§

“About a mile from this shell-heap, on Little Hog-Neck, facing the narrows
and cove, is a good-sized shell-heap, covered by alluvium. It has been ploughed
over many years; but the deposit underneath has not been disturbed to any

* History of Long Island.

+ Chronicles of East Hampton, Long Island.

{ Figured on p. 127.

§ Almost the same description of the shell-heaps near Otter Pond and Payne’s Creek was furnished by Mr.
Tooker to Dr. Abbott, who has published it on p. 439-40 of ‘‘ Primitive Industry.”

ARTIFICIAL SHELL-DEPOSITS. 2

great extent. It is from one to four feet deep, two hundred and fifty feet in
length, and extends back the same distance. In this deposit ashes seem to pre-
dominate, although in some places the shells are packed so closely that excavating
becomes difficult. The sand below the shells and ashes shows the effect of fire
very plainly. In a space ten feet square the writer found five bone perforators,
many notched sinkers, hammer-stones, sharpening-stones, broken celts, a few
arrow-points, quartz-chippings, nearly a peck of pottery fragments, a perforated
piece of a potstone vessel, and various other objects. Bones of birds and mam-
mals—those of deer and bear predominating—and fin-bones of fishes, were
scattered through the whole mass. Under all appeared a hearth of stones, show-
ing the effects of fire.

“Triangular arrow-points of quartz are far more numerous in the various
shell-heaps than those of other forms or material. No human bones suggesting
cannibalism or sacrifices have been found. Many of these shell-heaps were
camping-places after the settlement of the island, as shown by the presence of
gun-flints, leaden bullets, brass buttons, brass arrow-points, glass beads, and
bottles, which are found from time to time in the upper layers.”

I was informed by Mr. J. Carson Brevoort, of Brooklyn, that shell-heaps
are numerous along Rockaway Beach, in the southeastern part of the island.
It does not seem that they have thus far been examined.

Mr. E. Lewis, Jr., in an article on the Long Island coasts, speaks of ‘many
Indian shell-heaps, all of them now surrounded by meadows. Some of them,
six or more feet deep, near the margin of the ocean, are covered by every tide.
These are probably very old, and were formed originally at the uplands.’*
As will presently appear, similar indications of a littoral subsidence have been
observed in New Jersey.

New Jersey.—tThe shell-heaps of New Jersey have been noticed by Drs. G.
H. Cook and C. C. Abbott, Mr. C. F. Wolley, and by myself. According to
Dr. Abbott, they occur along the greater part of the New Jersey coast, from
Cape May to Keyport.+ My own investigations, made in the summers of 1863
and ’64, relate to shell-deposits in the neighborhood of the last-named place, a
post-town situated in Monmouth County, on Raritan Bay, and noted for its trade
in oysters and other edible mollusks. In the following résumé I avail myself
of an article contributed by me to the Smithsonian Report for 1864.

There are several places in the vicinity of Keyport, and one even within the
precincts of the town, where the soil is covered with shells, among which Indian
relics occur; but the principal shell-heap lies on Poole’s farm, a mile and a half

* Popular Science Monthly ; Vol. X, 1877; p. 486, note.
+ Abbott: Primitive Industry; p. 439.

228 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

northeast of Keyport, and about three-quarters of a mile south of a small pro-
jection of the coast, known as Conasconck Point.

Conaskonck Pr
eae

Fra. 360.—Plan showing the location of the principal shell-deposit at Keyport.

The road leading from Keyport to the village of Union passes through the
farm-land and borders the shell-bed, indicated by a dotted space on the accom-
panying plan. It spreads over an area of six or seven acres, and forms several
extensive heaps or ridges, on an average five feet high. The accumulations con-
sist of shells, mostly imbedded in sand, and intermingled with innumerable
pebbles, representing a great variety of mineral substances. The oyster and
hard-shell clam are here, as elsewhere in the neighborhood, the prevailing
species; but I found also, though not very frequently, shells of Pyrula, both
canaliculata and carica, which doubtless were eaten by the aborigines. I col-
lected only a few valves of the soft-shell clam, and none of the mussel, the last-
named bivalve occurring but sparingly in the neighborhood. In addition, there
were a few broken valves of the scallop, and some specimens of Nassa obsoleta,
the latter doubtless accidentally brought to the place. The few bones noticed by
me were so much decayed that they almost crumbled to pieces when handled,
and their condition rendered identification impossible. The non-conservative
quality of the surrounding sand accounts for their destruction.

ARTIFICIAL SHELL-DEPOSITS. 229

“That considerable time was required to heap up these shells, is evident,
and, moreover, indicated by the chalky, porous appearance and fragility of many
of the valves; but those that were cast away at later periods exhibit these signs
of decay in a far less degree, and are even sometimes as sound as though they
had but lately been left on the shore by high water. A great number of the
shells are broken, especially those of clams, which seem to be more brittle than
oyster-shells. This breaking into fragments is caused by the sudden changes of
temperature, in consequence of which the valves crack and ultimately fall to
pieces. Concerning the depth of this deposit, I learned that about twelve years
ago several hundred loads of shells were taken away from a certain spot for
making a road. The excavation thus produced reached about eight feet down-
ward, and the mass was found to consist throughout that depth of shells, sand,
and pebbles. My own diggings, which were, however, of a more superficial
character, led to the same result. This shell-bed is about half a mile distant
from the shore at low tide, and the intervening area consists chiefly of so-called
salt-meadow. In transporting the shell-fish to the camping-place it is probable
that the aborigines availed themselves of a small nameless creek (marked a on
the plan) running toward the sea, west of the shell-bed, and not very distant
from it. This creek, though rather narrow, is sufficiently deep for canoe-navi-
gation during high water, and joins the more considerable Conaskonck Creek,
which flows into the beach. There was, consequently, a water-connection between
the sea and the camp. The space enclosed by a dotted line on the accompanying
plan indicates the continuation, or rather the running out, of the shell-bed just
described; for here the shells are by far less numerous, and form no longer
heaps, but lie thinly scattered over the ground, which is partly under cultivation,
and swampy in some places, as marked in the sketch, by which it is only intended
to show approximately the location and extent of the deposit.”*

My search for aboriginal artefacts among these shell-heaps and in the
adjacent fields was very successful; for I obtained a considerable number of
arrow-heads, cutters, etc., of flint, quartz, and other materials, grooved axes of
sandstone and greenstone, and many fragments of a rude, dark pottery, fre-
quently mixed with coarse sand, yet sometimes bearing ornamental lines and
notches. I also found a piece of a large potstone vessel. No bone implements
were met with.

The great number of flint articles, especially arrow-heads, and of remnants
of clay vessels, found at this place—not to speak of the quantity and appear-
ance of the shells—indicates its long-continued use as a camping-ground.
Arrow-heads, ete., were made on the spot. This became evident not only from
the abundance of flint chips which lie scattered among the shells, but also from

* Artificial Shell-Deposits in New Jersey ; Smithsonian Report for 1864; p. 372.

230 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

the not unfrequent occurrence of unfinished arrow-heads, which had been thrown
aside as useless, on account of a wrong crack or some other defect in the stone.
There can be no doubt that the material was here furnished, to a great extent at
least, in the shape of uncountable pebbles of silicious character; for nearly all
the unfinished arrow-heads picked up by me still exhibit portions of the smooth,
water-worn surface of the pebbles from which they were made. Among the
collected objects I specially mention two scrapers of brown jasper, worked into
a spoon-like form, which lay on the shell-covered ground, a short distance from
each other, and were perhaps made by the same hand.*

At the time of my sojourn at Keyport old people still remembered that
Indians annually visited the neighborhood for catching shell-fish, which they
dried for consumption during winter. These Indians are said to have belonged
to the Narragansett tribe, which may be true, but seems somewhat improbable,
as they might have been able to obtain their supplies of mollusks in the more
northern, sea-bordered district inhabited by them.

Some interesting data concerning shell-heaps in New Jersey have been
furnished by Dr. Cook. ‘There are,” he says, “immense deposits of shells
found at different places along the sea-shore. They are the marks of the abor-
igines who came down here to gather their supplies of clams and oysters, and
left the shells in piles as we now see them. Some of them are the remains of
shells which have been broken up to make wampum. Large piles of these
broken shells have been met with at Manahawkin, at Tuckerton, at Leed’s Point,
at Beesley’s Point, and they have been heard of at several other places.

“They are applied directly on the soil, and soon begin to show their good
effects. They may be used with safety in almost any quantity, and will be found
a lasting fertilizer.”’*+

Dr. Cook noticed that in several places of the New Jersey coast the salt-
marsh had encroached upon the shell-heaps and grown several feet around them.
According to his opinion, the Atlantic coast of North America has been for
several hundred years past, and still is, in a state of slow subsidence.{ The
origin of these shell-heaps evidently dates back to a time when their sites lay
higher, and were free from salt-meadow.

Delaware—My. Francis Jordan, Jr., of Philadelphia, has published through
the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Philadelphia an account of an abor-
iginal encampment at Rehoboth, a watering-place on the coast of Delaware, five
miles south of the town of Lewes, and nineteen miles from Cape May, which

* One of them is figured on p. 406 of the Smithsonian Report for 1872.
+ Cook: Geology of New Jersey; Newark, New Jersey, 1868; p. 501.
ft Ibid.; p. 362.

ARTIFICIAL SHELL-DEPOSITs. 231

lies diagonally opposite. The camping-ground is situated directly in the rear of
what is now called Rehoboth Beach, and not more than five hundred feet distant
from the sea.

“The present dimensions of the encampment,” says Mr. Jordan, “are, in
length, three-quarters of a mile, running in a direct line north and south, parallel
with and, as I have said, distant from the ocean some four or five hundred feet,
and protected from it by a sand-bluff rising six or eight feet above high-water
mark, and extending from Rehoboth Beach to Cape Henlopen. The width of
the encampment varies from one hundred to five hundred feet. A ridge of sand-
hills intersects its length, dividing it into nearly equal parts, and as the southern
section is on a higher plane, the two form what might be called an upper and a
lower encampment.

“Lying a quarter of a mile south, stretches out the famous Rehoboth Bay,
once the habitation of clams and oysters, and whose shallow waters still teem
with a great variety of fish and myriads of hard and shedder crabs. Skirting ¢
portion of the western boundary, we behold one of those phenomenal freaks of
nature rarely met with on our coast, namely, three lakes whose waters are per-
fectly fresh and clear as any in our northern latitudes, although within a few
hundred feet of the salt sea. The largest covers some fifty acres of land and has
a mean depth of five feet. The quantity of water in each remains nearly the
same in all seasons, the constant exhaustion from evaporation being supplied
by hidden springs.

‘‘Tn selecting this spot as the site for an encampment, the Indians displayed
a keen appreciation of its unsurpassed natural advantages. Here they had
every comfort their savage natures could wish for. Game, fish, and oysters in
abundance and easily obtained: an inexhaustible supply of fresh water at their
very threshold; and the adjacent forest of white oak harbored the deer and bear,
and furnished them with fuel, and lumber to construct their sea-canoe.

‘“ Hitherto for many centuries they annually came to escape the enervating
heat of the inland villages, and probably remained far into the autumn, or until
the geese and ducks, with which the bay and lakes are stocked at this period,
deserted those placid waters for a warmer climate. Hence it is that I call this
an encampment, in contradistinction to their permanent abiding-places. The
are many, and even to the

evidences of their sojourn—their domestic habits
unscientific observer are unmistakable in the conclusions they point to. The
character of the ground is in itself a revelation, and contributes to the belief
that its level and compact surface—almost as solid as a macadamized road,
whereon no vegetable growth is visible—is not entirely the result of nature’s
handiwork, but that the foot of man assisted in producing it. It seems to have
been so pounded down by the tread of the successive generations of its periodical

232 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

visitors that vegetation is rendered impossible, whereas one step across its limits
brings you to a luxuriant growth of heather and such other grasses as usually
flourish contiguous to the sea in this latitude, and springing from a soil into
which the feet sink several inches. — — —

“Scattered throughout its precincts at irregular intervals are the remains
of several hundreds of what I shall call camp-fires—small conical elevations
composed of clam, oyster, and mussel-shells, mingled with charcoal. These
mounds vary in size and in seeming entirety. Some appear to have successfully
resisted the force of the elements, and retained their original form almost intact,
whilst others have partially succumbed to the wash of the winter-tides that have
occasionally gained access through apertures in the sand-bluffs and submerged a
part of the surface. There are still others that have been entirely effaced from
the same cause, and their positions are only distinguishable by the chalky appear-
ance of the ground, and the presence of myriads of broken shells that have
bleached by centuries of exposure. — — —

“At the Rehoboth encampment there are no large mounds, and presumably
never have been, as the number and positions of those extant preclude such a
supposition.

“The positive evidence of their origin is found in the fact that in the im-
mediate vicinity as well as mingled with the mollusks are fragments of pottery
in large quantities, celts, arrow-heads, and a variety of other stone implements
and ornaments; the bones of animals, and many pieces of calcined stone that
once played an important part in the construction of their long since extinct
fire-places. Indeed, in almost every stone picked up within the confines of the
camp-ground can be traced the fragment of an implement of domestic use, the
chase, or war. It should be borne in mind that stones are not found in this part

ot Delaware.”

The remainder of the account treats more specially of the artefacts discov-
ered at this place of encampment, such as the fragments of clay vessels, celts,
hammer-stones, ete. ‘ Large quantities of flint chips,” the author says, “and
unfinished and broken arrow-heads, as well as numerous perfect specimens are
to be found wherever a mound is to be seen, and lead to the opinion that the
manufacture of these implements was largely engaged in by the camp-dwellers.
The prevailing form is the triangular variety without the notched base, which
distinguishes those usually obtained from Pennsylvania and New Jersey.”

It must be considered as fortunate that Mr. Jordan has recorded the exist-
ence of this camping-place, as its vestiges will soon be obliterated. ‘‘ Even as I
write,” he says, “embryo streets traverse its domain in every direction, and in
the space of perhaps only a few months lofty hotels and comfortable cottages

ARTIFICIAL SHELL-DEPOSITS. 233

will rise upon the site of the Indian wigwam, and every trace of the aboriginal
character of the spot will have disappeared before the march of improvement.’

Mr. Jordan has kindly communicated to me in writing the results of further
explorations of shell-deposits in Delaware, and I herewith give his account in
his own words :—

“The little bays and inlets of the Lower Delaware, famous for the abun-
dance and fine quality of oysters and other mollusks, were especially attractive
to the Indians. The artificial shell-deposits—some of them of considerable
magnitude—that occur in the vicinity of Cape Henlopen and elsewhere along
the coast of Delaware, and which furnish in their construction the evidence of
their aboriginal character, testify to their appreciation of a locality possessing
numerous eligible encamping-sites as well as a remarkably equable climate and
inexhaustible fisheries. It is difficult to arrive at an accurate computation of the
age of these deposits; but from their extent and the nature of their formation,
it is fair to assume that they represent the accumulations of centuries. It isa
well-ascertained fact that the aborigines visited the coast periodically, and hence
these remains are the débris of their temporary encampments, and are generally
to be found on the banks of an estuary which gave their occupants safe connection
with the open sea.

‘Three miles north of Rehoboth, and a mile and a half west of Cape Hen-
lopen, is Long Neck Branch, a narrow strip of land, as its name implies, which,
within the memory of living inhabitants, projected into a shallow inlet of the
sea, where now only an immense salt-meadow exists, that may be safely crossed
on foot. On this peninsula, which is triangular in shape, half a mile long and
about a quarter of a mile wide at its base, and on an elevation far removed from
inundating tides, are shell-heaps which occupy the entire length of the neck,
and form, with one or two trivial breaks, a continuous mound. In the narrowest
parts of the peninsula the shell-deposits completely cover the surface, but else-
where their average width is thirty feet. A large portion of the deposit is
covered with a grove of pine-trees, which must have sprung up since the place
was deserted, as in many instances they have taken root directly upon the
summits of the heaps; and among them are a number whose cortical rings
denote an age of two centuries. The trees and undergrowth have largely
contributed to the preservation of the deposit, and where the roots have arrested
disintegration and kept the mass compact, the composition of the accumulations
can be studied as accurately as if their abandonment had been a recent event.
Numerous excavations established their depth to be from two to six feet, but
did not reveal characteristics differing materially from those observed in the
deposits at Rehoboth. They consist of hard-shell clam, oyster, and conch-

* Jordan: The Remains of an Aboriginal Encampment at Rehoboth, Delaware; Philadelphia, 1880; p. 2, etc.

R30

934 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

shells, the bones of animals that have been split for the purpose of extracting
the marrow, fragments of pottery, and charcoal. The latter formed a prominent
constituent of the mass, and is so free from extraneous substances. that it was
difficult to realize the fact that these aboriginal fire-places had remained undis-
turbed for at least two centuries. Under the roots of a lofty pine-tree, where
the cinders were especially abundant, I dug up pieces of earthenware of extra-
ordinary size and quite black, either from usage or contamination with the char-
coal in which they were buried. Wherever excavations were made at Long
Neck Branch, the quantity of broken pottery was greater and the sherds ina
more perfect condition than on the unprotected sands of Rehoboth and Lewes.
In ornamentation, however, and in the composition of the clay, which has an
admixture of sand and pounded shells, the specimens are identical. From a
careful measurement of the curved lines of these fragments, the vessels of which
they were once a part could not have contained more than two or three quarts of
liquid, and both in design and dimensions show very little variation.

“The results of my investigations at Long Branch Neck were not as satis-
factory as I had reason to expect. I was led to anticipate a valuable addition to
my collection, on account of the situation of the deposit in an unfrequented
section of country where its existence and prehistoric character being almost
unknown, it had been left undespoiled by the relic-hunter; but, besides the
pottery, I only obtained a number of rough hammer-stones and flint knives,
some finished and unfinished arrow-heads, and an abundance of calcined beach-
stones. My researches did not yield a single specimen of the larger and finer
class of stone tools, or an ornament of any description. With a view of ascer-
taining a cause for so unlooked for a disappointment, I made a close survey of
the surroundings, and finally reached the conclusion that the remains were simply
those of a fishing-post lying midway between the two great encampments of
Rehoboth and Lewes. There was insufficient space for the comfortable accom-
modation of a large community, which in a measure may explain the remarkable
absence of the ordinary stone implements.

‘An interesting discovery here was that of a well-defined trail through the
glades connecting the shell-heaps with two miniature lakes of fresh water, where
the Indians doubtless obtained their supply.

‘There was no evidence that any part of the deposit had been converted
into a place of sepulture.

‘A far more extensive series of irregular heaps can be traced for over a mile
on the downs in front of the town of Lewes, where they first become visible
about half a mile from the bay-shore. After running parallel with the latter
for some distance, in the direction of Cape Henlopen, they make a rather excen-
tric curve to the southeast, from which, and other indications, it was supposed
they followed the bed of a dried-up water-course. I consulted the old map of

ARTIFICIAL SHELL-DEPOSITS. 235

Delaware Bay and River, prepared in 1654~'55 by Peter Lindstrém, Royal
Swedish engineer attached to Menewe’s expedition. This map, now in the
Swedish archives, shows a sheet of water of considerable size, called Flower
River, that corresponds precisely with the present line of the mounds, and con-
firms the theory that the ground they occupy was selected for an encampment on
account of the facilities offered by this inlet as an exit into the bay. The
northern end of the great sand-dune, spoken of as lying between the cape and
Lewes, has in its progress inland buried from view several hundred feet of the
deposit near its southeastern terminus. Emerging thence, they continue, and
enter the pine-forest northwest of the cape, where they terminate.

“Half a century ago some portions of these accumulations were from fifteen
to twenty feet high, and the dazzling whiteness of the bleached shells made them
a conspicuous object far at sea. Now, they have an altitude that in places will
searcely measure as many inches, except where sheltered by the timber. Atmos-
pherie action has done much to produce this change; but the great factor in the
work of demolition has been utilitarian man, by whom tons of the decomposed
valves have been carted away for fertilizing purposes, and the elements are
gradually obliterating the remainder.

“T made many excavations among the shell-hills at Lewes; but in respect
to the number of implements found therein, they were as unproductive as the
mounds at Long Neck Branch. I dug out in one place, two feet below the sur-
face, three boulders of sandstone, which, from their relative position and cal-
cined appearance, I infer were once hearth-stones. Near these stones I found
a chisel of exquisite workmanship and two tubes of banded slate; also a portable
corn-mill of conglomerate rock, weighing thirty-six pounds. On the surface of
the sand, however, near the accumulations, I picked up a large number of speci-
mens, comprising several axes, a well-polished gouge of serpentine, arrow and
spear-heads, scrapers, many hammer-stones, and a flat piece of granite, on which
there are three perfectly-executed grooves converging to a point, three inches
long, an eighth of an inch deep, and the same in width.

“Tn conclusion, I desire to say to future explorers that if, in making exca-
vations directly among the shells, their object is the discovery of stone tools,
their search will by an unrequited one. My experience has taught me that
articles of real archzeological value are only to be found at some distance from
the mounds, where one would suppose the habitations of the Indians were placed.”

Maryland.—Dr. Elmer R. Reynolds, of Washington, D. C., kindly placed at
my disposition a large manuscript, descriptive of extensive explorations of shell-
heaps, carried on by him along the Maryland side of the estuary of the Potomac
River. But feeling reluctant to avail myself of this ample material, which Dr.
Reynolds intends to utilize himself in an elaborate account of these shell-deposits,

236 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

I returned the manuscript, expressing the desire to be furnished by him with an
abstract of it. He very obligingly complied with my request, and communicated
to me the following data :—

“The region about to be considered was occupied by the Wicomico or Yoa-
comico Indians prior to 1633. At this time they sold their lands to Lord Balti-
more, and, drifting northward, thereafter lost their tribal identity. These
Indians are said to have been of a pacific disposition, and were chiefly devoted
to agriculture, hunting, and fishing. All that is known about them is found in
Father Andrew White’s ‘ Relatio Itinineris in Marylandiam.’

“The shell-mounds and shell-fields of the Potomac region are both numerous
and of large extent. They were first observed on Nanjemoy Creek, where the
water is of a brackish character. Thence they are found at frequent intervals on
both sides of the Potomac. The most interesting, however, are located at Pope’s
Creek, fifty-eight miles south of Washington. The deposits at this place are
two in number, the larger being situated on the northern side of the creek, near
its junction with the Potomac. This mound rests on a high bank which faces
the creek on the south and also extends northward parallel with the Potomac.
It spreads over several acres of ground, and is partially concealed by an over-
lying stratum of earth. The shells vary in depth from one to seven and a half
feet. They are mostly those of the common oyster (Ostrea virginiana), still found
in this vicinity. Among them are also occasionally found shells of the qua-
haug or hard-shell clam (Venus mercenaria), and carapaces of the tortoise.
The shells themselves, while showing traces of approaching disintegration, are
still in a sound condition, excepting, however, those near the substratum, where
time and enormous pressure have conduced to their decomposition.

“Only a few fragments of bones have thus far been observed.

“ Pits containing ashes and charcoal are occasionally met with in the southern
margin of the mound, where the shells have been removed for lime-making.
The shells do not appear to have been much broken during the process of open-
ing, probably because the mollusks were cooked in the fire prior to opening.

“Stone implements of a rude character are quite frequent. They consist
mostly of hammer-stones, axes, celts, broken arrow and spear-points, and net-
sinkers. Fragments of plain and ornamented pottery are also found in all parts
of the deposit.

“The southern mound is much smaller than the one just mentioned. It is
eleven feet in height, but its superficial extent cannot be determined with accuracy,
inasmuch as the shells are mostly concealed by earth and vegetation. These
shells are also of the common oyster. The implements, although similar in
character, are not so numerous as in the other mound.

“The shell-fields which exist south of this place, are of great extent, and

ARTIFICIAL SHELL-DEPOSITS. 237

in many places of such a depth as to prevent the cultivation of the soil. The
first field is situated near Blenheim Manor; the next is at the Ferry House; the
third at Lower Cedar Point. A mile further south is a very large shell-field on
the Hungerford estate, at Waverly. The estate called Banks of the Dee
contains a shell-field nearly two miles in extent. It follows the Potomac from
Piccowaxton to Cuckhold’s Creek. A large shell-pile is situated in the Potomac
southwest of the Banks of the Dee. Simm’s Island in the mouth of Cuck-
hold’s Creek is covered with a deposit of shells more than a foot in depth. Other
large fields are found at Bachelor’s Hope and Swan Point. <A _ shell-mound
is found at Lancaster’s Landing, on the Wicomico River, two miles east of its
junction with the Potomac. Shell-fields have been examined at Charleston Creek
and Stoddard’s Wharf. All the localities thus far mentioned in this paragraph
are situated in Charles County. They also occur at Plowden Manor and
Chickahominy in Saint Mary’s County.

“Oysters were formerly common in the vicinity of Nanjemoy Creek, but
they are now rarely found above Port Tobacco River. They are said to have
disappeared almost entirely about 1779, and again during the first quarter of
the present century. Fishermen say that the oyster-beds in shoal water are
frequently destroyed during long-continuing storms, when the wind blows from
the shore, and the small streams carry down sand and detritus, which cover the
oysters.

‘Shells of the hard-shell clam, as stated, have been met with in the northern
mound at Pope’s Creek ; but these mollusks are not found at present in the same
locality.

“Shell-fields occur on the Virginia shore as far north as Mathias Point, in
King George County. They are also said to exist on the same side thence to
Chesapeake Bay, but in smaller number than on the Maryland shore.

“As to the age of the shell-deposits at Pope’s Creek, it seems evident to the
writer that they antedate the Columbian era. This belief is based upon the
fact that when Lord Baltimore’s colonists arrived in 1633-4, these mounds were
concealed from view by a thick stratum of earth which sustained a large forest.
This forest remained standing until about 1740, when the soil was prepared for
cultivation. At this date minor shell-heaps were found above the stratum of
earth which concealed the ancient shell-deposit.”

In another part of Maryland shell-heaps were explored by Mr. Joseph D.
McGuire, of Ellicott City, in Howard County, of that state. I am indebted to
him for the following communication :—

“Tn several visits, extending through a period of ten years or more, I have
examined quite a number of shell-heaps at and near the mouth of South River,

238 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. Oysters of a good quality are found in
the neighborhood at the present day, and a large number of persons gain
their livelihood as oystermen in the waters adjacent to the shell-heaps. The
latter are invariably composed of shells of the common oyster. No one can
doubt that these heaps are aboriginal deposits. Within a radius of three miles
from Mayo’s Island, which is at the mouth of South River near its southern
bank, there are as many as twenty-five distinct shell-heaps, possibly four times
that number; for I have never yet passed a day in that vicinity without finding
at least one new camping-place. The largest deposit, however, is on a property,
about two miles up the river, belonging to a Mr. Brewer. At this place there is
a point of land projecting into the river, with a well-sheltered little bay on its
southern side, forming an excellent location for a camp. The shells cover, I
should judge, from ten to twenty acres, and in places are as much as five feet in
thickness, thinning out by degrees. Unless a shell-deposit is carefully examined,
especially on a hill-side, one is very apt to be misled, and to imagine it to be
deeper than it really is.

“On the Brewer property I found the depressions common to shell-heaps,
not only in North America, but also in Denmark, to be more distinct than else-
where in this vicinity. These depressions are elliptical in shape, but occasionally
round, and from eighteen inches to two feet deep in the centre. As a rule, they
measure from four to six feet in the smaller, and from eight to ten in the larger
diameter. They are evidently the sites of habitations, partly filled by the
freezing and thawing of centuries, which causes the shells to break down as we
see stone walls falling and forming accumulations totally unlike walls. On the
Brewer property the hollows are certainly twice as large as I have noticed them
elsewhere, probably because they were the sites of larger habitations.

“One of the heaps on Mayo’s Island is about one-fourth of a mile in length,
and extends back not more than thirty feet ; but as it reaches to the water’s edge,
forming there a precipitous bank at least six feet high, it evidently has been
partly worn away. One heap, four or five hundred feet long, which crops out
along the bluff on the south side of the river, and rises from six to fifteen or more
feet above tide, has within ten years been reduced to half its size, and in a few
years more will have entirely disappeared. Another heap on the west side of
the river is little, if at all, above the present high-water line, and I think it
possible that the surface has subsided.

‘““As to the age of these heaps, it would be most difficult to offer even a con-
jecture other than that, as a rule, they are pre-Columbian. Theories with the
strongest arguments (apparently) in their favor are often in a moment destroyed.
I instance the heap on the south side of the river, which I have said was disap-
pearing. In one place this heap is covered by at least five feet of superimposed
earth, which I considered a fair indication of great age, until on one of my visits

ARTIFICIAL SHELL-DEPOSITS. 239

I removed from the bank a piece of an iron pot. Afterward I discovered that
this thick layer of earth had been gradually washed down from the neighboring
hill.

“Trees of three or four feet in diameter have grown on the tops of the
heaps. The contents of these accumulations, as may be imagined, are various;
but one circumstance is peculiar, namely, that stone implements are exceedingly
rare. I have found on several occasions hearths composed of rounded pebbles ;
also, in one instance, wood-ashes amounting to a cart-load. Charcoal is quite
common. Pieces of pottery occur in all the heaps, and are often perforated with
holes, apparently for the purpose of mending the broken vessels. Sometimes,
but not commonly, this pottery exhibits rude decorations ; in color it varies from
white to black and red in all shades. It is invariably mixed with pounded
shells, and differs in this respect from that found a few miles inland, which
nearly always contains triturated quartz instead of shell. English clay pipes of
early date are often found in and near these heaps.

‘ Fish-bones, so common in the New England shell-heaps, I never discovered
in those of Maryland; but bones of birds and mammals and turtle-shells are
numerous, and such remains as I had identified are those of the duck, goose,
swan, wild turkey, squirrel, rabbit, deer, black bear, and terrapin (diamond-
back).”

West Virginia.—Deposits of fresh-water shells on Blennerhassett’s Island,
a locality familiar to the student of North American history, have lately been
examined by Mr. J. P. MacLean, of Hamilton, Ohio, and a collection made by
him during his exploration is in the United States National Museum. It con-
sists of Unio-shells, human and animal bones, arrow-heads, celts, pestles, imple-
ments of shell and bone, and fragments of pottery. I am indebted to Mr.
MacLean for the following account of the locality and of the character of the
deposits :—

‘ Blennerhassett’s Island is situated in the Ohio River, two miles below
Parkersburg, West Virginia, and less than two miles west of the mouth of the
Little Kanawha. It extends east and west, and is of peculiar form, being narrow
in the middle, broad near the centre of either half, and coming to a point at the
lower extremity. The length of the island is over three miles, and it embraces
two hundred and ninety-seven acres. It contains five refuse-heaps—princi-
pally composed of shells of the Unio—which afford a fine field for the study of
the domestic life of the prehistoric aborigines.

“The first impression that strikes the observer is the favorable situation
which the island offered for a safe and convenient home suited to the require-
ments of the savage. Its natural surroundings afforded him sufficient shelter
against the sudden incursions of enemies—besides granting him the advantage

240 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

of a fertile soil for producing maize, while the broad Ohio, surrounding him on
all sides, would furnish an abundance of food. On the Virginia side of the
river the banks are almost perpendicular, being elevated to a height of more than
five hundred feet, thus presenting a natural barrier against the inroads of foes
from that direction. On the opposite side the plain of Belpre ranges from fifteen
to seventy feet higher than the island, thus giving protection on the north,
although less than that on the south. An additional security consisted in the
distance between the shores of the island and those of the main-iand, because it
is so great as to be practically beyond the range of any primitive weapon of offense.

“The largest shell-heap is located on the eastern point of the lower half of
the island. Its present shape is that of a triangle, conforming to the natural
contour of the ground, and being eleven hundred and twenty-five feet long by
two hundred feet at its western and three feet at its eastern extremity. Originally
it was much larger, for within the last forty years a strip seventy feet in width,
and extending the whole length of the deposit, has been carried away on the
north side by the constant erosion of the river. How much more than this has
been torn off cannot now be determined. At the present time the shell-heap is
under cultivation, excepting a very narrow road-way along its northern brink.
The plough has turned out the shells of the Unio and the bones of the deer
(Cervus virginianus), and the surface is almost covered with these remains.
Among the bones the lower jaw of the deer predominates. Bones of other mam-
mals oceur; also of birds, but not in abundance. These osseous remains are
generally in a very good state of preservation. Chips of chert are scattered
over the ground, and may be picked up almost everywhere.

‘Under the road-way (where the shells have not been disturbed by the plough)
the vegetable mould covering the deposit varies from six to thirty inches in
depth. The deposit averages six inches in thickness, and is composed of a com-
pact layer of Unio-shells, cemented, as it were, with a sediment of sand and
vegetable mould. On exposure the sharp edges of the shells rapidly crumble.
Some of them are slightly calcined, proving that they had been placed on coals,
either for being cooked, or for facilitating the extraction of the meat. Others
are broken, in consequence of a forcible separation of the valves, and many
again, which bear no such marks, probably were opened by placing them in hot
water. Intermingled with these shells are found the bones of various animals,
and there also occur among them vestiges of fire-places. The aboriginal relics
here found consist of arrow and spear-heads of chert and hornstone, stone axes,
pestles, tubes, pipes, circular stones, bone needles, bodkins, and beads, ornaments
of shell and cannel-coal, and fragments of pottery. There is an abundant yield
of such articles.

‘The shell-heap next in size is located on the upper half of the island, and
faces the Virginia shore. It covers an area of about half an acre. When first

ARTIFICIAL SHELL-DEPOSITS. 241

noticed, it was enclosed by a nearly square wall composed of surface-material.
This deposit does not afford as fine an exposure as the one first described, because
it has been longer under cultivation, and the shells have mostly crumbled into
dust. The yield of this deposit is in variety the same as that of the other, but
less abundant.

“The three remaining refuse-heaps are very small, but present the same
general features as the last one.

‘Within these deposits and in close proximity to them have been found
many human skeletons. Some of the skulls do not show the flattening of the
occiput so characteristic of the red race.

“The island, at the time of its discovery, was overgrown with forest-trees,
hiding the shell-heaps as well as the rest of the land. When Blennerhassett
first began to cut down the wood, he found antiquities in the form of pottery, but
probably was not aware of the existence of shell-deposits.”

Ohio.—As early as 1822, Mr. Caleb Atwater noticed the existence of heaps
of cast-away fluviatile shells, intermingled with bones, and inclosing fire-places,
near the mouth of the Muskingum River, opposite Marietta. He regards them
as very old.*

Tennessee.—Dr. D. G. Brinton, while attached to the Army of the Cumber-
land during the late civil war, noticed the prevalence of shell-heaps along the
Tennessee River and its affluents. ‘They are very frequent at and above the
Muscle Shoals, and are composed almost exclusively of the shells of the fresh-
water muscle. Close to the famous Nick-a-jack Cave is the railway-station of
Shell-Mound, so called from an uncommonly large deposit of shells, probably
left by the Cherokees, who so long used this spot as one of their headquarters. It
was taken by our troops as a military post, and embankments were thrown up
around the summit of the mound. The excavations made for this purpose abun-
dantly proved its wholly artificial origin. In all instances I found the shell-
heaps close to the water-courses, on the rich alluvial bottom-lands. The mollusks
had evidently been opened by placing them on fire. The Tennessee muscle is
margaritiferous, and there is no doubt but that it was from this species that the
early tribes obtained the hoards of pearls which the historians of De Soto’s
expedition estimated by bushels, and which were so much prized as ornaments.”*+

I learned from Dr. Brinton that the mussels of the Tennessee River were
occasionally eaten “as a change” by the soldiers of the above-named army-corps,
and pronounced no bad article of diet.

Towa.—Accumulations of fresh-water shells were observed during five years

* Archzologia Americana; Vol. I, Worcester, Massachusetts, 1822; p. 226.
+ Brinton: Artificial Shell-Deposits in the United States; Smithsonian Report for 1866; p. 357.

R31

242 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

(beginning in 1868) by Dr. C. A. White, now of the United States National
Museum, along the Mississippi and its tributaries in Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois,
Missouri, and Indiana. ‘In general character,” he states, ‘these fresh-water
shell-heaps resemble those of marine coasts, but they are usually not so extensive.
They vary in extent from a few bushels of shells to accumulations from fifty to
a hundred yards long, four or five yards broad, and from a few inches to a yard
or two in thickness. They are usually located upon the immediate bank of the
river, sometimes a little below, and sometimes above the reach of the highest
floods.”

The three most interesting shell-heaps were found by him near the villages
of Keosauqua, Sabula, and Bellevue, in Iowa; the first upon the bank of the
Des Moines River, and the other two upon that of the Mississippi. The shells
constituting these heaps represented fourteen species of Unio and one of Paludina,
all still inhabiting the neighboring water. Among them occurred remains of
the cat-fish and sheep’s-head, snapping and soft-shelled turtle, wild goose, buf-
falo, and common deer. The artefacts consisted of flint flakes and arrow-heads,
one greenstone axe (found at Keosauqua), and fragments of a coarse kind of
pottery.

Both at Sabula and Bellevue Dr. White noticed in the ground small pits,
showing the action of fire, and now filled with shells and bones. “The earth had
evidently been heated by building a fire in the pits; the mollusks and other food
were then placed in them, then covered, and the contents allowed to cook by the
retained heat.”

Concerning the age of these heaps, Dr. White thinks “that the entire
absence of all articles of civilized manufacture, even those that savages most
eagerly secure, seems to be very good evidence that they are older than the date
of the discovery.” He also found oak and elm-trees from two to two and a half
feet in diameter growing in the soil that had accumulated upon the shell-heaps,
and he ascribes to the latter an age of not less than two hundred years.*

’

Georgia.—The shell-deposit on Saint Simon’s Island, briefly but graphically
described by Sir Charles Lyell,+ may serve as a type of artificial accumulations
of marine shells in Georgia. Concerning deposits of fluviatile shells, Colonel
Charles C. Jones remarks that they are found upon the banks of most of the
rivers in Georgia. He further says :—

* White: Artificial Shell-Heaps of Fresh-Water Mollusks; Proceedings of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science; Twenty-second Session, held at Portland. Maine, August, 1873; Salem, 1874; p. 138,
ete.—A short notice relating to the same subject had previously appeared in the ‘American Naturalist ’’ (Vol.
III, 1870, p. 54), and also an article of wider range, ‘‘ Kjekkenmeddings de l’Amérique du Nord,’’ in the
Compte-rendu of the Fifth Session of the International Congress of Prehistoric Anthropology and Archxology,
held at Bologna in 1871 (Bologna, 1878, p. 379, etc.).

+ See p. 218 of this volume.

ARTIFICIAL SHELL-DEPOSITS. 243

“As an illustration of their frequency and extent — — — we may instance
those on the right bank of the Savannah River, above the city of Augusta. Only
one need be specifically mentioned, and this will be found in Columbia County,
near the confluence of the Great Kiokee Creek and the Savannah River. Here,
opposite a succession of rapids in the river—a locality which would have afforded
marked facilities for successful fishing in the manner adopted by the Indians of
this region—upon a bold bluff is an accumulation of fresh-water shells covering
the surface of the ground to a depth varying from two to four feet, and extending
nearly one hundred yards in length, and more than a quarter of that distance in
width. Intermingled with them may still be found the bones of large fishes,
deer, turkeys, raccoons, bears, bison, turtles, squirrels, rabbits, and other animals
and birds, and also fragments of pottery, arrow and spear-points, soapstone net-
sinkers,* crushing-stones, axes, chisels, rude mortars and other implements, and
various ornaments of clay and soapstone. Here, then, was one of the favorite
camping-grounds of the Indians. Hither they resorted for centuries, feeding
upon fish, mussels, and game. This is but one of many extensive refuse-heaps
of a similar character which have attracted the notice of the writer along the
banks of fresh-water rivers not only in Georgia, but also in Florida, Carolina,
Alabama, and Tennessee. In these relic-beds no two parts of the same shell
are, as a general rule, found in juxtaposition. The hinge is broken, and the
valves of the shell, after having been artificially torn asunder, seem to have been
carelessly cast aside and allowed to accumulate at the very doors of the lodges,
where, mixed with the débris of the encampment, in the course of time they
became heaped up to such an extent as to form these large shell-banks.+

Cast shells, both marine and fluviatile, were also used in the construction of
burial-mounds by the aborigines of Georgia. ‘“Shell-mounds,” says Colonel
Jones, “formed the common graves of the Indians occupying the coast. They
abound upon all the sea-islands, and are thickly congregated upon the outer
bluffs and along the banks of salt-water streams. The admixture of shells im-
parted a permanency to many small mounds which, otherwise, would long since
have been entirely obliterated. Most of them contain more than one skeleton,
the bones being generally disposed in a horizontal position. In a few instances
the dead were inhumed in a sitting posture. Only occasionally do the human
bones found in these tumuli indicate the action of fire. ——-— The drift-
shells—collected by the action of the tides into ridges so common along the coast—
were also employed in the construction of these tumuli.’’t

Florida.—The fresh-water shell-heaps abounding along the banks of the
Saint John’s River have been specially studied since 1860 by the late Professor

* Noticed on p. 165.
+ Jones: Antiquities of the Southern Indians; p. 483, ete,
{ Ibid.; p. 195, ete.

244. PREHISTORIC FISHING.

Jeffries Wyman, and the results of his investigations are contained in a hand-
some memoir published by the Peabody Academy of Science, at Salem, Massa-
chusetts. It is thus far the most conspicuous treatise on shell-heaps issued in
this country. Professor Wyman’s field of investigation extended a considerable
distance along the river, from Forrester’s Point, some miles above Palatka, to
the Salt Lakes; but he found the deposits most abundant between Lakes George
and Harney. He is of opinion that these heaps were the dwelling-places of the
first inhabitants of the region through which the Saint John’s River flows.*

“The shell-deposits on the river,” he says, “are entirely different as to their
characteristics from the mounds of the sea-coast. The last extend around the
shores of the whole peninsula of Florida, and in certain places, as at Turtle
Mound, Charlotte Harbor, and Cedar Keys, are of gigantic proportions. They
are composed exclusively of marine species, mostly of oysters on the Atlantic,
but on the Gulf coast of several species belonging to different genera, as Ostrea,
Bysicon, Strombus, Fasciolaria, Cardium, ete.

“The mounds of the river, on the contrary, consist exclusively of fresh-water
species, viz.: Ampullaria depressa, Say, Paludina multilineata, Say, and Unio
Buckleyi, Lea. The Paludina forms by far the largest portion of every mound,
and with a few Unios the whole of some. Either of the above-mentioned
species, however, instead of being promiscuously mingled with the rest, as is
generally the case, may be found forming considerable deposits by themselves,
without the admixture of the others, as if at certain times they had been exclu-
sively used for food. At Old Town we have seen large deposits of Ampullarize
alone in one part, and of Unios in another. Other shells, as Melanie and Helices,
are occasionally found, but are too small and too few to justify the supposition
that their presence was other than accidental.

‘“As far as known to the writer, the fresh-water shell-mounds on other rivers
of the United States, understanding by the word shell-mound a dwelling-place,
consist almost exclusively of Unios. Those of the Saint John’s are therefore
peculiar, and are the only, or certainly the chief, instances in which the Ampul-
larize and Paludinze just mentioned have become to so large an extent articles of
food. There is not a single mound on the Saint John’s composed exclusively of
Unios. — — —

“The most of the mounds are in the form of long ridges parallel to the
shore, though a few are nearly circular. The limits of all are sharply defined,
and at a few feet from the base shells cease to be found. Rising somewhat
abruptly from their foundations, they are mostly surmounted with a nearly level
area.” + 'The larger ones sometimes cover several acres, and rise to the height of
fifteen, twenty, or twenty-five feet.

* Wyman: Fresh-Water Shell Mounds on the Saint John’s River, Florida; Fourth Memoir of the Peabody
Academy of Science; Salem, Mass., 1875; p. 8.
7 Ibid. ; pp. 9 and 10.

ARTIFICIAL SHELL-DEPOSITS. 245

Professor Wyman examined in all forty-eight shell-heaps, which, of course,
cannot be singly referred to in this place. The shells composing them have
already been mentioned; the list of mammals, birds, amphibians, and fishes,
represented in the heaps by broken bones, teeth, shells, ete., comprises the bear,
raccoon, hare, deer, otter, opossum, turkey, several undetermined species of
birds, the alligator, four species of turtles, the cat-fish, gar-pike, whiting, and
another species of fish not determined. Professor Wyman also met with bones
and teeth of extinct mammals (mastodon, elephant, etc.); but their remains had
undergone changes, from which he concluded that these animals had not been
contemporaneous with the people who left the mounds. These accumulations
also contain ‘“ human bones, broken up in the same manner as the bones of edible
animals, and believed to be the remains of cannibal feasts.” As may be
imagined, fire-places were noticed.

Stone implements occurred rarely in the mounds themselves, and they are
classed by the author of the memoir as flakes or chips, hammer-stones, arrow-
heads, and worked pieces resembling somewhat the implements of the Saint-
Acheul type. These artefacts generally present a very rude appearance. Better
inplements, however, occur in some abundance on the surface and in the neigh-
borhood of the heaps, and are thought to have originated with the Creeks and
other Indian tribes, which, coming from South Carolina and Georgia, overran
East Florida more than a century ago, and, having conquered the natives of the
country, formed afterward the Seminole nation. Implements of bone, mostly
piercers, were of more frequent occurrence in the heaps than stone artefacts, and
there were likewise found bones and parts of antlers, to be made into implements,
as shown by the marks of sawing on them. Not unfrequent were chisels and
gouges made of the shell of Strombus gigas, Pyrula perversa, and Pyrula carica.
Drinking-vessels made of the first-named Pyrula, which were found on or a little
below the surface of the shell-heaps, are not considered as coeval with them, but
of later origin. The author also mentions among the objects obtained by him
during his exploration shells of the Pyrula carica, wrought in a certain manner
for a purpose not known to him. They are apparently the club-heads described
by me a year after the appearance of his memoir,* and may have replaced to a
certain extent the grooved stone axes, none of which were found by Professor
Wyman in or upon the shell-heaps. Ornaments were almost entirely wanting,
and not asingle pipe came to light. No objects of copper, gold, silver, or other
metal were discovered by him. Fragments of a rude kind of pottery occurred
in the later but not in the oldest shell-heaps.

The author concludes his interesting memoir with a résumé, embodied in

* The Archeological Collection of the United States National Museum ; No.-287 of Smithsonian Contribu-
tions to Knowledge; Washington, 1876; p. 66.—The modified shells, however, are mostly those of Pyrula per-
versa.

246 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

the present abstract, excepting the last three paragraphs, which I give in his

own words :—

“Though the absolute age of the mounds cannot be determined, a minimum
age of several hundred years has been approximately ascertained, justifying the
conclusion that some of them were essentially finished two or three centuries
before the arrival of the white man, as shown by the age of the trees growing
upon them. Other, but not exact, signs of age are to be found in the changes of
the channel since the mounds were built, the greater or less destruction of the
mounds by the river, the growth of swamps and the consolidation of the shells
through the agency of percolated water charged with lime.

“Only a single skull of the builders has been found ; this differs from the
skulls of the burial mounds in being longer, with the ridges and processes more
pronounced. There are bones from other parts of the body from two individuals,
in both of which there was the flattening of the tibia. A second collection of
human bones was found embedded in sandstone, under a shell-heap at Rock
Island, Lake Monroe. Only a part of the skull was found; the tibize were flat-
tened, but no other peculiarities were observed.

“ Whether the builders of the mounds were the same people as those found
there by the Spaniards and the French is uncertain. The absence of pipes in all
and of pottery in some of the mounds, and the extreme rarity of ornaments, are
consistent with the conclusion that they were a different people. To those may
be added the negative fact that no indications have been found that they practised
agriculture.’”*

The coasts of Florida, as has been stated, are lined with vast accumulations
of marine shells cast away by the former population of the peninsula. I will
make special mention of those located on and near Tampa Bay, on the Gulf
Coast, which have been examined and described by Mr. 8. T. Walker, connected
with the United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries.

“The materials of which the shell-heaps are composed,” he remarks, “are
indicated by the name applied to them, shells constituting by far the larger
portion of the mass, differing only in the species composing them; and here I
will state that, after diligent search, I have never discovered a shell in these
heaps belonging to a species that is not common in Tampa Bay to-day. The
kinds of shell that predominate are those which are most abundant in the im-
mediate vicinity. Thus, if the mound be located near oyster-bars, as on bayous,
or near the mouths of creeks or rivers, we find that shell constituting the mass
of the structure. If on or near sand-flats, we find conchs, clams, scallops, etc.,
predominating. Intermingled with the shell, but forming only a small part of

* Wyman: Fresh-Water Shell Mounds; pp. 86, 87.

ARTIFICIAL SHELL-DEPOSITs. 247

the mass, are crabs’ claws, and the bones of the turtle, shark, drum-fish, deer,
and sea-birds, occurring as named, the bones of the turtle being most plentiful.
Broken pottery of a very thick, heavy pattern, without ornament, is scattered
about the sites of former fires. Stone ornaments and arrow-heads are sometimes
found on the surface, but never, to my knowledge, in the interior of these
mounds.’’*

Very large shell-heaps were seen by Mr. Walker at Shaw’s Point, on the
mouth of Manatee River. They extend five hundred and sixty-four feet along
the shore, and are from fifteen to twenty feet in altitude at the highest points.
The sea having encroached on one side of a heap, a perpendicular section was
presented, enabling Mr. Walker to distinguish the old fire-places, which were
gradually brought to a higher level, proportionate to the increase of the heap.
A representation of this section, accompanying his report, shows this very
plainly.+

Not the least interesting observations made by Mr. Walker are those rela-
ting to the gradual progress in the manufacture of pottery found in the shell-
heaps of Florida. He presents a diagram (reproduced on the following page),
showing a section of a shell-heap at Cedar Keys, which he thinks a fair repre-
sentation of the interior of Floridian shell-deposits in general, if the unusually
thick layer of soil near the middle of the mass is excepted. This section was
produced by cutting through the mound in opening a street. Fragments of
pottery are pretty uniformly distributed throughout the heap from the bottom to
the top; but an entire vessel, to Mr. Walker’s knowledge, has never been found
in any of the shell-heaps of Florida. The three stages marking the progress
in the ceramic art are thus characterized by Mr. Walker:—

“In all the large shell-heaps examined hitherto I have invariably found
pottery in the lowest stratum of shell, and, in many instances, in the soil beneath
the foundations, which I regard as conclusive evidence that the aborigines were
acquainted with the art of fabricating earthenware pots long before they began
these vast accumulations of shell. The art, however, was in its rudest state.
The fragments are thick, heavy, and coarse, the composing clay often containing
a mixture of coarse sand or small pebbles. The utensils were of large size, as
shown by the curves of the fragments, and rudely fashioned, and they were
destitute of all attempt at ornament. The rims were plain, and were not thick-
ened or re-enforced to increase their strength. This style is found generally for
about three or four feet in height, and may be said to represent the first stage.
Above this a gradual change is perceptible, the two styles overlapping, so that
it is difficult to say where one begins and the other ends.

* Walker: Report on the Shell-Heaps of Tampa Bay, Florida; Smithsonian Report for 1879; p. 418.
7 Ibid.; p. 416, ete,

248 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

‘The second stage, however, as we ascend, soon
SECTION OF SHELL-HEAP AT

CEDAR KEYS. becomes plainly marked. The walls of the utensils
| Six inches of modern soil. become thinner. The rims are turned outward and

slightly thickened. Dots and straight lines are cut
Later stage). . .
; into the sides of the vessel by way of ornament, and
Fine thin pottery, beautifully or- ° : a Be nes ye :
namented. Neatly-made imple- | the thickened rims are sometimes ‘ pinched’ like pie-
ments of bone, shell, ete. Axes 7 . '
arrow and spear-heads of stone; | crust with the fingers. During this stage the savage
also stone beads and objects of : : .
‘\Gugcueameeaeye > - | artist first began to mould his wares in rush-baskets,

Three feet. ° i .
which were subsequently burned away, leaving the

vessel curiously checked as though it had been pressed,
while wet, with coarse cloth. The use of sand or

Two feet of soil containing a} gravel is totally abandoned during this stage, and the
few fragments of pottery. ‘

quality of the pottery is in every way improved. In-
plements of shell and bone are sometimes found; but

they are generally few in number and rude in man-
ufacture.

“This brings us to a portion of the shell-heap

Middle stage). 0 : ait :
( 3) corresponding in position with the two-feet stratum

Better pottery, rudely orna- Rea: : :
mented. ‘Primitive implements | of soil shown in the diagram, and that stratum marks

of bone and shell. ovis : :

Four feet. the transition-period between the middle and modern
styles of Indian pottery. Immediately below this
layer of soil we find the curved line introduced in

ornamental designs on the utensils, and a few frag-

ments of the rims of pots show that ears began to be

attached to them for the convenience of suspension,
(Earlier stage). :
e and that the thickness of the ware was reduced by

Rude, heavy pottery, destitute

of ornament. the employment of better materials. Immediately
Three feet. : p :
over the stratum of soil all the fragments show im-

provement on those below. New patterns are intro-

duced, and we begin to find fragments of dishes,

bowls, cups, as well as those of jars and pots, many of them of elegant design
and of a superior quality of ware. Stone axes, arrow-heads, bone and shell im-
plements are of frequent occurrence.

“As we approach the top, marks of improvement are numerous. All the
larger pots are furnished with numerous ears, through which strings might be
run for suspension. Vessels are sometimes furnished with handles, and all the
finer wares are elaborately ornamented with zigzag-lines, curves, dots, and, in
rare cases, with figures of men and animals. The finest wares are invariably

ARTIFICIAL SHELL-DEPOSITS. 249

found on or near the surface, and among them we find the first attempt of the
aborigines at coloring their work.”

Mr. Walker tries to determine the time needed for the accumulation of the
different strata, and attributes, as the result of his calculations, an age of one
thousand years to the oldest shell-heaps. Yet, he is far from making any positive
assertion. ‘‘ There are so many possibilities to be encountered,” he says, “that
the question of age is lost among them. The growth of a shell-heap depended,
of course, upon the number of people living in the vicinity, the cireumstance
whether their residence was continuous or occasional, the abundance or scarcity
of shell-fish, and many other accidents too numerous to mention. Layers of soil
in different parts of the same heap show that portions of the mass ceased to
grow for long periods of time, while thick strata of clean shell indicate the rapid
and continuous growth of other portions. Future investigations may throw
more light on this subject, at present involved in doubt and mystery.’

Alabama.—Among other shell-heaps on the coasts of the Gulf of Mexico,
I will only refer to those on the Mobile River, Alabama, described by Messrs.
A.S. Gaines and K. M. Cunningham.

They allude to the great number of such deposits on the banks of that
river, especially upon Simpson Island, which forms the delta between the mouths
of the Mobile and Tensas Rivers. ‘Many of them are the sites of market-
gardens, and the shells from those most accessible to the water have been utilized
in paving the stock-yards of the railroads, and the grounds around the cotton
warehouses in Mobile. The one chiefly examined is about nineteen miles above
Mobile, on the land of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, and two hundred feet
from the water’s edge. The heaps are composed almost entirely of clam-shells,
although a few specimens of Arca incongrua, Neritina, Melania, and Fusus cin-
ereus are met with.’”’+

There were also found portions of fourteen human skeletons, pointed bone
implements, thousands of fragments of pottery, and even five entire vessels,
now in the National Museum.

California and Oregon —My. Paul Schumacher’s reports on explorations of
shell-heaps and village-sites on the coasts of California and Oregon, and on the
Santa Barbara Islands{ are known to all who take an interest in North American
archzology. In view of the many facts presented by the explorer, it would be
a rather laborious task to give a résumé of his results. Fortunately, however,
Mr. Schumacher himself has published in German a short article—‘‘ Observa-

* Walker: The Aborigines of Florida; Smithsonian Report for 1881; p. 677, ete.
+ Gaines and Cunningham: Shell-Heaps on Mobile River ; Smithsonian Report for 1877; p. 290.
{ See p. 119, note.

R 382

250 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

tions on the Ruined Aboriginal Villages on the Pacific Coast of North Amer-
ica”*—which fully answers that purpose, and is here reproduced in an una-
bridged, though somewhat free, translation :—

“The shell-heaps on this coast mark the sites of former villages of the
aborigines. In some cases, however, the accumulations of shells were caused
by occasional visits to places where edible mollusks are found in large quantities.
In such temporary camping-grounds, which, as a rule, are unfavorably situated
for permanent settlements, the mollusks were extracted from the shells, in order
to be transported with greater facility to the distant village. By this process,
and by the innumerable meals taken, for centuries, on the spot during such
visits, shell-beds, often of vast extent, were formed. We notice in these tem-
porary camping-places no indications of the former existence of huts; there are
no flint flakes—nothing that betokens the manufacture of weapons and domestic
utensils; and graves, likewise, are wanting. All we find are small heaps of
cobble-stones, about the size of a hand, and bearing distinct marks of the action
of fire; and, accompanying these, charcoal and ashes—additional proofs that
they represent old fire-places. The shells in these temporary camping-grounds
are always those of mollusks occurring in the neighborhood. We see, for in-
stance, upon the downs which extend for a distance of twelve miles between
Point San Luis and Point Sal (Southern California) several of such shell-beds
composed almost exclusively of a species of Lucina, while they contain but a
small number of the Venus mercenaria, and other edible kinds; bones of small
land-animals and fishes are proportionally very rare. At Point Sal, on the other
hand, where we observed the remains of a permanent settlement, there are found
not only the shells of all mollusks which prosper on the rocks of the neighbor-
ing sea, Mytilus californianus predominant among them, but also those of such
as occur on the sand-banks near the temporary camping-grounds, together with
an abundance of the bones of various land and sea-animals. It would be diffi-
cult to determine whether such places were considered as neutral, or whether the
mollusks there caught reached the inhabitants of the interior in the way of
exchange for other products; but there can be no doubt that they obtained them,
for we discovered their remains farther north on the Santa Maria River.+

“The view, sometimes expressed, that the shell-heaps were built up by the
aborigines for burial-purposes, and were gradually increased by mortuary feasts,
etc., is wrong. On the contrary, it is proved beyond doubt that they indicate the
places of ancient settlements, and are the kitchen-refuse heaped up during long
periods, and, further, that they inclose graves only in cases when the ground is

* Schumacher: Beobachtungen in den verfallenen Dérfern der Ureinwohner an der pacifischen Kiiste in
Nordamerika ; Mittheilungen der Anthropologischen Gesellschaft in Wien; Vol. VI, 1876, p. 287-293.

+ Northern boundary of Santa Barbara County.

ARTIFICIAL SHELL-DEPOSITS. 25m

rocky, and resisted the primitive implements of the natives. We find not only
the whole mass of the kjokkenméddings intermingled with fragments of domestic
utensils, implements, and weapons, but also discover on the surface, as evidences
of permanent settlements, round depressions, generally still surrounded by a
circular embankment, which mark the spots where the huts formerly stood. As
further evidences we may mention the working-places, where arrow-heads,
knives, etc., were made, as is shown by the presence of flakes of chalcedony,
jasper, flint, quartz, obsidian, and similar kinds of stone, as well as by the fre-
quent occurrence of broken and half-finished arrow-heads, and of rough-hewn
discs, about as large as a hand, in which shape those mineral-substances, which
do not occur on the islands, and are also mostly wanting along the coast, were
imported by way of barter. Finally, there are round stones, upon which, by
means of hammer-stones of harder substance, weapons and piercing-tools were
brought into a rudimentary shape, to be finished afterward with a bone imple-
ment.

“The traces of a village of the aborigines, especially when occurring in
erassy or solid ground, remind the observer of a group of enlarged mole-hills,
sunk in, but having a raised circumference or embankment. The digging into
one of these cavities reveals the subterranean part of a hut, which reached about
four feet below the surface. The floor is recognizable by a harder layer, in the
midst of which we find the fire-place and charcoal and ashes. The sides of the
hut sometimes can still be traced by the presence of split boards running hori-
zontally, and by vertical posts. Though the under-ground part is quadrilateral
in most cases—about ten feet square—we find, nevertheless, that the pit as now
seen (rarely deeper than two or three feet, though often very steep) presents a
roundish cavity, owing to the circular form of the embankment and the action
of the elements in the process of filling a depression in loose ground. In Oregon
we found exceptionally several sites of huts inclosed by a quadrilateral projection
of earth; such, however, doubtless date from the period of white immigration,
and form, as it were, the transition from Indian to trappers’ huts, such as we
have noticed among the present Klamath Indians. As a proof thereof we find
in these cases the wood shaped with the axe, while in the old sites of huts it is
split®* and charred at the ends. The subterranean part of a hut is pretty much
the same along the whole coast, and is only exceptionally of a round form; but
in the inner arrangement differences are observable.

“In excavating, for instance, several sites of huts in the deserted chief set-
tlement of the Tu-tu-to-ni, on the right bank of Rogue River, about five miles
distant from its mouth (Oregon), we found the hearth-cavity placed on one of
the sides, and above it a draft-passage worked from below the embankment

* With wedges of elk-horn, which occur quite frequently among the débris.

252 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

upward to the surface (Fig. 361). At Chetl-e-shin, near the mouth of Pistol
River (likewise in Oregon), we also found the hearth on one side, but without a
draft-passage. At other places in Oregon the fire was kept in the centre of the
earth-hut, and we made the same observation on the Californian coast, south of
San Francisco.

Surface

YY
YG i, Yi
Uy SUL,
MY YY; ty),
VME

WM iyi

Fra. 361.—Section of the under-ground part of a hut. Oregon.

“The superstructure of the hut doubtless corresponded to the form of the
embankment: being circular, and probably terminating conically. On the
Island of San Nicholas, in the Santa Barbara Channel,* we found in the course
of our explorations in the interest of the Smithsonian Institution that the frame-
work of the huts consisted of colossal whale-ribs, which were so placed that,
owing to their curvature, the superstructure assumed a conoidal form, and thus
bore some resemblance to a bee-hive. It was only on the islands that we some-
times saw whale-bones used instead of wood in the construction of the huts.

“There are numerous indications that much of the work of the former
inhabitants was performed in the open air. Thus we find all places where arrow-
heads, beads, fish-hooks, mortars, etc., were made, located between the sites of the
huts. Arms, knives, drills, and other objects of the flinty material, which, as
stated, had to be acquired by importation, were manufactured in all permanent
settlements ; and so were the numerous mortars and pestles, which consist either
of sandstone or basalt. In these latter artefacts not only the material varies
according to localities, but we also notice different degrees of skill in their make ;
while flint points from different places vary but little, if made of equally good
material. In some districts the mortars are of masterly workmanship, beauti-
fully formed, and often richly decorated with inlaid pieces of shell, or even with
well-executed raised sculpture ; but in other localities, where the stone-cutter was

* San Nicolas Island is a desert, like San Miguel and San Clemente Islands, for nothing thrives there but a
little grass and a few low plants peculiar to the coast; the soil consists of sandstone and banks of sand. No other
but drift-wood, therefore, is obtainable. Water is found on all the green islands, though sparingly on some of
them. Santa Rosa is grassy, but has no trees. On Santa Cruz Island mountain-willows and scrub-oaks grow in
some spots, and there is near the landing a small fir-wood, perhaps the southernmost natural growth of that kind
on the coast. Santa Catalina and Santa Cruz are the finest islands in the channel ; the former is likewise tolerably
well grown with scrub-oak and mountain-willow. Of all the eight islands—Anacapa and Santa Barbara are rocks
and without water—Santa Cruz alone has a brook, while on the others water is found in springs. The climate is
delightful, more especially that of Santa Catalina. The islands are not inhabited, and merely utilized for

cattle-raising.

ARTIFICIAL SHELL-DEPOSITS. 253

less practised in his trade, these objects are clumsy, of unelegant shape, and
exhibit a shallow cavity. Shell beads and other ornaments of shell were abun-
dantly made on the islands, and probably served as articles of trade. The fine
cooking-vessels of potstone, usually globular, and wrought with great skill,
appear to have been important objects of barter. The material of which they
are composed has thus far not been discovered in situ on this coast, though there
are indications that it occurs in Southern California. The pots, cut out of a solid
piece, must have passed into commerce in a finished state; for, being usually
very capacious, the raw material of the larger ones cannot have weighed less
than several hundred pounds; and they present, moreover, so much similarity
in shape and execution, that their distribution from one centre of manufacture
appears highly probable. There is hope that the quarry of the aborigines will
be discovered; and if that happens, and in confirmation of our supposition, a
manufacturing-place has there existed, we shall gain an interesting insight into
the methods employed by the natives of this coast in one of their mechanical
arts.*

“As the implements used in digging the ground consisted at best only of
stone, it follows that a rocky condition of the ground hindered the laying out of
a village, and therefore required the deposition of a stratum of a more yielding
substance, which was presented in the sand, everywhere plentiful on the coast.
If, therefore, a natural, easily-worked ground was wanting in a locality otherwise
favorably situated for a settlement, it became necessary to cover the surface with
a layer of sand, corresponding to the extent of the village and the depth of the
huts. Upon this the latter were built, and the kitchen-refuse began to accumu-
late, gradually forming what are now shell-heaps. In thus prepared village-sites
we find the graves always in the artificial sand-bank, or—what is the same—the
shell-heaps. If, however, the soil is sandy, or otherwise of a yielding character,
we have to look for the graves outside of the area of the village. They consist
in the southern part of California of a communal excavation, about five feet
deep, in which the skeletons are placed in narrow compartments, formed either
of slabs of limestone (common on this coast) or of whale-bones. They generally
are deposited in layers, one above the other, lying on the back, and having the
knees drawn up. But this position is often disturbed by the repeated opening
of the graves. In order to convey an idea of the limited space allowed to the
defunct Californian, we will state that a cemetery extending over an area of six
hundred square feet inclosed nearly four hundred skeletons. In Oregon the hut
of a dead native was used as his grave, after it had been burned down; but
interment in single graves also took place.”

* Mr. Schumacher discovered afterward potstone-quarries and pot-factories on Santa Catalina Island. His
account is contained in the ‘‘Hleventh Annual Report of the Trustees of the Peabody Museum of American

Archeology and Ethnology,” 1878; p. 258, ete.

254 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

I am under obligations to Major J. W. Powell for the following notice of
shell-heaps in the vicinity of San Francisco, which were examined by him :—

“The shores of San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bays, in California,
were formerly occupied by a tribe or a number of tribes of Indians, who, to a
large extent, subsisted upon shell-fish, which abound in the adjacent waters.
The shore-line following all of their indentations must be several hundred miles
in length. In the neighboring hills are many beautiful springs, and wherever
such a spring or any small pond of fresh water is found, a mammoth shell-heap,
or sometimes a group of them, can now be seen, so that altogether many thou-
sands of them still exist, and are now held to be valuable sources of fertilizing-
material. One of the mounds examined by myself—not the largest that I have
seen by any means—was three hundred yards in length and eighty yards in
width, and a shaft sunk through the shells to the virgin earth below was sixty-
two feet in depth. In the heap were found, besides the shells, many bones of
mammals, birds, reptiles, and fishes, showing that the people had a great variety
of animal food. Among the many implements found were stone mortars and
pestles, doubtless used, as the Indians of that country now use them, chiefly for
grinding acorns, and perhaps also other seeds to some extent. The adjacent hills
are covered with the oaks of the Pacific Coast, which furnish a great abundance
of acorns.”

Mr. Dall informs me that the most common mollusks in those waters are
chizotherus Nuttallii, Conr., Tapes staminea, Conr., Macoma’ nasuta, Conr., and
Saxidomus aratus, Gould. As less frequent he mentioned Chiton tunicatus, Wood,
Chiton lineatus, Wood, Purpura saxicola, Val., Cryptochiton Stelleri, Midd., and
Platyodon cancellatus, Cony. All the species here named, he thinks, were eaten
by the aborigines.

Shell-heaps near Cape Mendocino, Humboldt County, California, were
explored, in the interest of the National Museum, by Mr. John J. McLean, of
the United States Signal Office, and until lately stationed at Cape Mendocino.
He communicated, in October, 1883, the following description of these deposits :—

“About a mile south of a small creek which empties into the Pacific, and
from which the Cape Mendocino light-house can be plainly seen, there are a large
number of aboriginal shell-heaps. Their site covers an area extending about
one-quarter of a mile north and south between sand-dunes parallel to the ocean
beach, and about fifty yards in average width. Forty-two distinct heaps, great
and small, are scattered about within this limited space. There is no regularity
in their distribution, as they were formed as it happened to suit the convenience
of the shell-fish eating Indians.

“Nine of these heaps have been built up in a conical form by successive

ARTIFICIAL SHELL-DEPOSITs, 255

layers of shells, bones, and charred timber. Numerous smaller heaps are scat-
tered around generally, prolonged or flattened out under the lee of the contiguous
sand-dunes.

“Not more than a dozen varieties of shells appear in the remains. Very
large specimens of mussel-shells seem to predominate. Next in point of fre-
quency are the common clam and cockle-shell. The common sea-snail frequently
occurs. A conical shell is also quite numerously represented. A univalve with
spiral curve, very thick and semi-transparent, comes next in abundance. The
latter is generally broken at the side, the aperture forming a hole through the
centre at right angles with its mouth. This mutilation is noticed in nearly all
of the spiral-curved shells, and was probably made for the purpose of extracting
the mollusk ; but the shells may have had a subsequent use for ornamental pur-
poses by stringing them together. A great many fragments of the abalone-shell
(Haliotis) are also found. The mussel and snail-shells, especially the former,
are very much broken up, and exceedingly friable when found whole.

‘“Numerous portions of whale-skeletons are met with, the jaw-bones of one,
fully fifteen feet high, forming an arch to the entrance of the Ocean House Hotel.
It was carried from the shell-heaps to its present position. There are no speci-
mens of pottery found in or in the vicinity of the shell-heaps.

“This locality was not only resorted to for capturing and consuming the daily
food, but was also a workshop of the aborigines, where their implements of war
and the chase were manufactured, as numerous flint chips and imperfect arrow
and spear-heads prove. Within the radius of a mile these specimens are to be
found, more than a thousand of them having been picked up by the writer.
Business and pleasure must have been combined in no small degree by these
ancient coast-dwellers. Thousands of Indians must have helped to add to the
height of this immense mass of débris through many generations.

‘Several of the mounds were carefully examined. A trench was dug across
the apex, and then another at right angles with the first cutting. The largest
heap thus explored showed a combination of shells, bones of animals, and charred
timber to the depth of four feet. The shells and bones fell in pieces upon being
exposed to the air. Other mounds showed a similar combination of material,
differing slightly in the depth of the layers.

‘There are no shells of any description found along the beach for five miles
southward and three miles northward, excepting those on and in the mounds.
Careful examination of the rocks opposite the heaps at low tide only shows one
kind of shell-fish, namely, the conical-shaped univalve.

“The flint chippings and arrow and spear-heads are not confined to the
immediate vicinity of the heaps, but may be found at numerous places for five
miles along the beach in a southerly direction, especially on the sheltered side of
a sand-dune or bluff. It would seem that the Indian sat down to manufacture

256 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

his implements wherever the material was most convenient and abundant.
None of the larger implements, such as axes, hammers, pestles, or mortars have
been found, excepting one, a weather-worn axe of soft stone. The latter was
found near the mouth of the creek.”

The collection of stone objects sent to the National Museum by Mr. McLean
comprises chips, flakes, rude implements, broken leaf-shaped implements,
scrapers, and arrow-heads, of green, brown and yellowish jasper, and other sil-
icious material. The shells taken from these heaps were identified by Mr. Dall
as those of Mytilus californianus, Purpura crispata, Purpura saxicola, Acmea
pelta, Acmea spectrum, Acmea mitra, Tapes staminea, Pholas californica, Fissu-
rella aspera, Chrysodomus dirus, Haliotis rufescens, Chlorostoma funebrale, Chloros-
toma brunneum, and Helix Townsendiana. There were further found plates of
Cryptochiton Stelleri and of an undetermined species of Chiton, a fragment of an
Echinus-shell, and some teeth of canine animals.

Alaska.—In describing a number of bone dart-heads, obtained by Mr. W.
TH. Dall from shell-heaps on the Aleutian Islands, I briefly indicated, in accord-
ance with his statements, the general character of those deposits, and presented
also some of the conclusions therefrom derived by him.*

It will be remembered that he found the shell-heaps on the islands to consist
of three successive deposits, which, he thinks, mark different stages in the devel-
opment of the population that had formed them. The earliest or littoral period
is characterized by the echinus-layer, which, resting on the natural soil, consists
almost exclusively of the broken, or rather pulverized, tests and spines of
Echinus Drobachensis, Agass., the only species of its kind found in that region,
and eaten raw by the present Aleuts. This layer is sparingly intermixed with
shells of still living mollusks, among which those of Modiola vulgaris, Fleming,
Mytilus edulis, Lin., Purpura lima, Martyn, and Purpura decemcostata, Midd.,
may be mentioned as being most frequent. This bed, varying from two to three
feet in thickness, contained no other bones of vertebrates, but some fish-bones,
and these in very rare instances. There were no traces of the use of fire observ-
able, and no implements or weapons of bone or stone occurred, excepting rude
hammer-stones with indentations on the broad sides. These stones served for
cracking the echini and shells. No remains bearing on navigation -occurred,
though Mr. Dall thinks that rafts or rude canoes of some kind must have been
in use. The people who left this layer, the explorer conjectures, lived in an
extremely low stage of human development, and he thinks they were addicted to
cannibalism, though he has found no eqnfirmatory evidence of this practice in
the deposit. He is inclined to assign no less than a thousand years to the
accumulation of the stratum.

* See p. 144 of this work.

ARTIFICIAL SHELL-DEPOSITS. e258

Upon this echinus-layer follows one composed of fish-bones, intermixed with
shells of mollusks, few bird-bones, and traces of echinus-shells and spines. The
chief mass of this bed, however, consists of fish-bones, compacted to such a
degree that bar and pick-axe were required in making excavations. It charac-
terizes what Mr. Dall calls the fishing-period. The thickness of this stratum
varies from one to three feet in different localities. The fish-remains found in it
(mostly heads and vertebrze) represent two kinds of salmon, the cod, halibut,
and several species of herrings, sculpins, and flounders. Among the artefacts
may be mentioned some net-sinkers in the shape of pebbles notched on opposite
sides. These, however, appear, according to Mr. Dall, “‘on the uppermost sur-
face of the echinus-layer, indicating that to the primitive hand-nets or scoop-nets,
with which the echinus-eaters might have secured their food, had been added the
larger, more elaborate, and more effective seine.”* There are mentioned, as
occurring in the fish-bone layer, somewhat rude knives of the kind denominated
“fish-knives,’ stone dart-heads, and, in the upper portion of the stratum, har-
poon-heads of bone. It is thought probable that skin-boats came into use during
this period. Mr. Dall is careful to note the progress which the presence of the
above-named objects implies; yet he lays some stress on the absence of charcoal
in the deposit, and of those peculiar stone lamps in which fish-oil could have
been burned as fuel. The fish, he thinks, were eaten raw, which, to some extent,
still is the custom of the Aleuts. The people of this period are supposed to have
lived in huts of mats or skins, leaving no traces behind them.

The hunting-period, finally, is represented by the uppermost or mammalian
layer. ‘The sharp line of definition between the echinus-layer and the fish-bone
layer, which suggested an incursion of fishermen upon the echinophagi, is not
paralleled in the line between this and the mammalian stratum. The distinction
is readily marked in an actual section of a shell-heap, but the uppermost portion
of the fish-bone bed contains some mammalian bones, and the mammalian bed
throughout, but particularly at its base, contains a fair proportion of fish-bones.
In fact, the change is what we might expect in the progress of a race stimulated
by new invention or application of means which placed new, valuable, and eagerly-
accepted powers within their reach.”+ Mr. Dall found the mammalian layer
varying from two or three to eight or ten feet in thickness, and the extent of
the deposits of this period denotes a considerable increase of the population.
“Tf we allow a thousand years for the duration of the littoral period, or depo-
sition of the echinus-layer (and I am disposed to do so), then I think that
fifteen hundred or two thousand years is not an excessive estimate for the dura-
tion of the fishing and hunting-periods.’’t

* Dall: On Succession in the Shell-Heaps of the Aleutian Islands; p. 56.
+ Ibid.; p. 62.
ft Ibid.; p. 73.

R33

258 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

Mr. Dall gives a long list of the mammals and birds represented by their
remains in the three strata into which he divides the deposit of the hunting-
period. Among them are various phocine and cetacean animals, and many kinds
of birds, such as puffins, gulls, auks, several species of eiders and other ducks,
ete. ‘ Remains of houses of the half-underground type, afterward so universal,
appear only in the middle stratum, showing that not until then had the popula-
tion so multiplied and mutual confidence sufficiently matured, for the more
ancient, temporary, above-ground houses to begin to be supplanted by more sub-
stantial and comfortable structures.’*

During this period some cooking was done in the open air, as evidenced by
the discovery of stone hearths still bearing the marks of fire. A great improve-
ment is perceivable in the articles fashioned by the hand of man, and even
attempts at ornamentation are not wanting. There were found in this deposit
lance-heads of stone and bone, or both combined, bone harpoon-heads+ of better
make than those discovered in the fish-bone layer, wedges, skin-dressers, and
awls, all of bone, stone fish-knives, dish-shaped lamps of stone, and perforated
articles of bone or ivory belonging to kayaks, and designed to make paddles and
darts fast to them. These last-named accessories to boats occurred in the upper
part of the mainmalian layer, in which were also found bone handles for dishes
or baskets, bone spoons, and other articles similar to those used by the present
Aleuts.

Mr. Dall’s memoir is undoubtedly of great interest; yet some of his con-
clusions have not passed unchallenged. I would be guilty of an omission if I
failed to allude to the diverging views expressed by Mr. Ivan Petroff, himself
for several years an explorer in those regions.

Mr. Petroff agrees with Mr. Dall that the theory of an Asiatic influx of
population over the Aleutian chain of islands is entirely untenable, and that they
were peopled from the east, but he does not think that this migration took place
before the invention of the kayak, considering that there is no timber on the
islands, excepting drift-wood, which he considers entirely unfit for the manufac-
ture of canoes, or even for the construction of rafts. ‘The assumption,” he
says, ‘that the earliest inhabitants of the Aleutian Islands were without a kayak
or boat of some kind is based upon researches in the shell-heaps of abandoned
village-sites on those islands; but a kayak with a whale-bone or even a wooden
frame without its modern ornaments of ivory and bone, contained no material
that would withstand decay and final absorption. ‘The skin-covering, when worn
out and unfit for use as such, was, no doubt, then as now, cut up into straps and
patches, or served as food in time of famine, while the frame could be utilized

* Dall: On Succession, ete.; p. 75.
} Trefer to Figs. 224, 225, 283, 234, 235, 288, 248, 244, and 245, representing bone dart-heads from the fish-
bone and mammalian layers.

ARTIFICIAL SHELL-DEPOSITS. 259

in many ways that would leave no trace behind. The mere absence from the
lower strata of shell-heaps of anything pointing to the existence of the kayak
can scarcely be considered as proof conclusive of its non-existence. My personal
observations have led me to believe that the remains of former villages and
dwellings found on the Aleutian Islands and the continental coast of Alaska are
not of the antiquity ascribed to them. Wherever I had the opportunity to
observe such localities at long intervals of time, I was astonished at the rapidity
with which nature extinguished the traces of man by a growth of sphagnum and
other vegetation, giving to the site of the village abandoned but a few years
every appearance of great antiquity.

“The absence of stone and bone implements of more delicate construction
from the lower strata of the shell-heaps can easily be attributed to the same
cause that explains the absence of iron implements from the upper layers that
must have accumulated within historic times. Such articles were the product of
much labor, and consequently too precious to be lost. At every successive
removal from one dwelling-place to another all such products of their ingenuity
were carefully collected and removed by the ancient Aleuts, just as it is done
now with regard to iron by the natives of the present day. — — —

“In the settlements remote from the trading-centres the people of Innuit
stock live to-day as they did probably centuries ago, in a manner not at all
inconsistent with the remains found in the lower strata of shell-heaps. Even the
presence of stone and bone arrow and spear-heads is no true indication of age, as
they are manufactured at the present day, as I had an opportunity to witness
frequently during my travels in remote regions.

“The time required for the formation of a so-called layer of ‘ kitchen-refuse ’
found under the sites of Aleutian or Innuit dwellings I am also inclined to think
less than indicated by Mr. Dall’s calculations. Anybody who has watched a
healthy Innuit family in the process of making a meal on the luscious echinus or
sea-urchin, would naturally imagine that in the course of a month they might
pile up a great quantity of spinous débris. Both hands are kept busy conveying
the sea-fruit to the capacious mouth; with a skillful combined action of teeth
and tongue the shell is cracked, the rich contents extracted, and the former falls
rattling to the ground in a continuous shower of fragments until the meal is con-
cluded. A family of three or four adults, and perhaps an equal number of chil-
dren, will leave behind them a shell-monument of their voracity a foot or eighteen
inches in height after a single meal. In localities in Prince William Sound I
had an opportunity to examine the camp-sites of sea-otter hunters on the coast
contiguous to their hunting-grounds. Here they live almost exclusively upon
echinus, clams, and mussels, which are consumed raw, in order to avoid building
fires and making smoke, and thereby driving the sensitive sea-otter from the
vicinity. The heaps of refuse created under such circumstances during a single

260 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

season were truly astonishing in size. They will surely mislead the ingenious
calculator of the antiquities of shell-heaps a thousand years hence.’”*

* Petroff: The Limit of the Innuit Tribes on the Alaska Coast; American Naturalist, 1882; p. 571, etc.

Mr. Dall, after having read at my request the preceding extracts from his work and from Mr. Petroff’s article,
communicated to me the following statements, which I take pleasure in making known :—

“ Knowing at the time Mr. Petroff’s article was published that he had no practical knowledge of shell-heaps,
and that he had never resided or remained for any length of time in the Aleutian Islands, and, furthermore, find-
ing the contents of the article to consist chiefiy of opinions rather than facts, I did not deem it worth the extended
consideration necessary to correct its misconceptions and errors. However, as the latter appear likely to pass into
serious literature, I have availed myself, by the kind permission of Dr. Rau, of the present opportunity of recti-
fying one or two of them. Referring to my work on the Aleutian shell-heaps, Mr. Petroff ascribes to me the
assumption ‘that the earliest inhabitants were without a kyak or boat of some kind,’ ete. On page 56 of my
paper I state ‘they must have had rafts or rude canoes of some kind, but no trace of them is left.’ He considers
drift-wood unfit for making canoes or even rafts; but I have myself seen the present Aleuts constructing the frames
of their canoes of it. In fact, nearly all the boats and canoes (not made of bark) of Northern Alaska are made
of drift-wood, both on the Yukon and the coast. This happens because the drift-wood comes from the south-
eastern coast or the heads of rivers to the southward, and is of larger size than the wood growing nearer the
northern coast.

“Mr. Petroff believes that the remains of villages on the Aleutian Islands and the continental coast are not
of the antiquity (I have) ascribed to them. He speaks of his astonishment at the rapidity with which sphagnum
‘and other vegetation’ extinguished the traces of man. This may be true for the continental coast, where he has
resided, and to which I did not refer; it is certainly untrue for the Aleutian Islands, where it is a matter of no-
toriety that the remains of villages abandoned before the Russian advent are distinguishable at the present day as
far as the eye can reach; even the paths formerly used by the inhabitants remain nearly free from vegetation,
and over the village-sites sphagnum is almost unknown, as they are nearly all comparatively high and tolerably
well drained. As to their antiquity, I state (1. c., p. 62) that ‘even the most lax hypothesis will not permit us to
attempt any computation of the length of time’ which it has taken to form the layers indicating village-sites
(fish-bone and mammalian layers), though I have shown that, given certain stated and not inherently improbable
conditions, the earliest (echinus) layer might have been formed within certain computable limits. All beyond
this I distinctly state ‘is only an assumption.’ Mr. Petroff’s opinion that shell and bone-heaps eight or ten feet
in thickness ‘must have accumulated within historic times’ it is not necessary to characterize, if by ‘ historic
times’ he means since the Russian advent in 1742. If he means the limits of written history of the civilized
world, I have nowhere claimed anything equal in length to that period. It must be remembered that within fifty
years after their first exploration the Aleuts were reduced by disease, massacre, and starvation to about their
present population, not more than three thousand souls, who occupy altogether less than a dozen villages; less, in
fact, than existed on a single bay of Unalashka Island previously.

“Tt would hardly be worth while to continue tedious explanations for the benefit of readers who are supposed
to kngw something of anthropology. If any such, after studying with care the facts collected in my article on the
Aleutian shell-heaps, shall find a more satisfactory and coherent explanation for them, I shall not regret it.”’

EXTRACTS FROM VARIOUS WRITINGS

OF THE

SIXTEENTH, SEVENTEENTH, EIGHTEENTH, AND NINETEENTH CENTURIES,

IN WHICH REFERENCE IS MADE TO

ABORIGINAL FISHING IN NORTH AMERICA.*

Egede (Hans): Beschreibung und Natur-Geschichte von Gronland ; iibersetzt von
Dr. J. G. Kriinitz ; Berlin, 1763.—Translation: “In fishing the Greenlanders
use iron hooks, and in their absence hooks made of the breast-bone of the bird
called awk. Their fishing-lines are thin and narrow strips of whalebone tacked
together at the ends. With such lines they will draw up a hundred fish to one
which our people take with their hempen lines. But for catching halibut they
use lines made of seal-skin, and also our hempen lines.” (Page 130).

Crantz (David): The History of Greenland : including an Account of the Mission
carried on by the United Brethren in that Country ; London, 1820.+;—‘‘A few of the
common salmon have been seen in certain places (of Greenland), but they fall
greatly short of those of Norway and other countries in size. The Greenlanders
catch these fishes under the stones with their hands, or strike them with a prong
of bone or iron. At the season when the salmon ascend from the sea into the
rivers, the natives build a wear of stones across the mouth of the stream at low
water ; over these the fish pass with the tide, and are left in the shallows by the
ensuing ebb. — — —

“The ordinary food of the Greenlanders is the Angmarset, or Greenland
Salmon, Salmo Grenlandicus. The Newfoundland men call these fishes Capelins.

* This section is far from embodying all early and later notices of fishing, as practised by the North American
Indians and Innuits. The copious literature bearing on the natives of the northern half of America might have
enabled me to increase the given material to a considerable extent ; but it is doubtful whether more extracts would
have added much to the reader’s information. Even in those here presented iteration is not wanting. I have
arranged the extracts geographically, beginning with Greenland and ending with Alaska, following the plan
adopted in my account of North American shell-heaps.

+ The first edition of the German original of this work was published at Barby (Prussian Saxony) in 1765,
and it was for the first time translated into English in the following year. The author’s name was not Crantz,

but Cranz.
(261)

262 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

They are about half a foot long. —— — They do not spawn till May and June,
at which time the Greenlanders lade out whole boat-loads of them with hoop
sieves strung with sinews: they dry them on the rocks in the open air, and store
them up in leathern sacks, or cast-off clothes, for their winter provision. — — —

“The most common food of the Greenlanders, next to the Capelin, is the
Lasher Bullhead, or Ulke, Scorpius Cottus, Lin. This fish may be found at any
season of the year in all the inlets of the coast in deep water, and is caught most
plentifully in winter, by poor women and children, with a line of whalebone or
feathers thirty or forty fathoms long. A blue stone is fastened to the end of this
line to sink it, and a white bone, or a glass bead, or a bit of red cloth serves as
a bait for the hook. — — —

‘‘The common flounder is seen on these coasts, but seldom taken. But at
certain seasons the Greenlanders catch great numbers of the Holibut, Plewro-
nectes Hypoglossus, with large tish-hooks fastened to whale-bone or seal-gut thongs,
from a hundred to a hundred and twenty fathoms in length; the largest are a
yard and an half or two yards in length, about half as broad, and a full span
thick; they weigh from a hundred to two hundred pounds and upwards.”
(Vol. I, page 88, ete.).

‘Of the whale-fishery of the Greenlanders, it is to be observed that the
proper whale and Narwhal are only caught in the north ; the Cachalot and smaller
species in the south also. Their method of taking the Greenland whale is as
follows: all the natives who engage in the pursuit put on their best clothes ; for,
according to a saying of their sorcerers, if any one of the company wore a dirty
dress, especially one contaminated by a dead body, the whale would fly their
approach, and even though killed would sink to the bottom. The women are
forced to accompany the expedition, partly in order to row, partly to mend the
men’s clothes and boats, should they get torn or damaged. They assail the whale
courageously in their boats and kajaks, darting numerous harpoons into his
body. The large seal-skin bladders tied to these weapons prevent him from
sinking deep in the water. As soon as he is tired out they despatch him with
short lances. The men then creep into their fishing dress, which is composed of
seal-skin, and has shoes, stockings, gloves and cap, all in one piece. Thus
equipped they jump upon the whale, or even stand in the water by his side,
buoyed up by their swollen dress. They cut off the blubber with their uncouth
knives, and though provided with such poor instruments, are very expert in
extracting the whalebone from the jaws. The former operation is a scene of the
utmost confusion. Men, women, and children, armed with pointed knives, tum-
ble over each other’s backs, every one striving to be present at the sport, and to
have a share in the spoil. It is a matter of wonder to a spectator how they
avoid wounding each other more frequently. However, the scuffle seldom ends

EXTRACTS. 263

without bloodshed. The smaller species of whales they catch like seals, or drive
them into bays, till they run aground.” (Vol. I, page 120).

“They (the boats) are of two kinds, the greater and smaller. The great or
women’s boat, Umiak, is commonly from six to eight or nine fathoms long, from
four to five feet broad, and three deep. It is narrowed to a point at each extrem-
ity, with a flat bottom. It is made of slender laths, about three fingers broad,
fastened down by whalebone, and covered with tanned seal-skin. Two ribs run
along the sides parallel to the keel, meeting together at the head and stern.
Across these three beams, thin spars are mortised in. Short posts are then fitted
to the ribs to support the gunwale ; and as they are liable to be forced outwards
by the pressure of the transverse benches for the rowers, of which there are ten
or twelve, they are hooped in on the outside by two gunwale ribs. The timbers
are not fastened by iron nails, which would soon rust and fret holes in the skin
coating, but by wooden pins or whalebone. The Greenlander performs his work
without line or square, taking the proportions by his eye, which he does with
great accuracy. The only tools which he employs for this and every other kind
of work, are a small saw, a chisel, which when fastened on a wooden handle
serves for a hatchet, a small gimlet, and a sharp-pointed pocket-knife.* As soon
as the skeleton of the boat is completed, the woman covers it with thick seals’
leather, still soft from the dressing, and calks the interstices with old fat, so that
these boats are much less leaky than wooden ones, the seams swelling in the
water. They require however a new coating almost every year.

‘“‘They are rowed by the women, commonly by four at a time, while one man-
ages the helm. It would be scandalous for a man to interfere, except he were
warranted to snatch the oars by a case of extreme danger.

“The oars are short with a broad palm like a shovel, and they are confined
to their places on the gunwale by leathern grooves. At the head of the boat,
they spread a sail of gutskins sewed together, two yards high and three broad.
Rich Greenlanders make their sails of fine white linen striped with red. But
they can only sail with the wind, and even then cannot keep up with an European
boat. They have however this advantage, that they can make way with their
oars much faster in contrary winds or acalm. In these boats they undertake
voyages of from four to eight hundred miles north and south along the coast,
with their tents and all their goods, besides a complement of ten or twenty per-
sons. The men however keep them company in kajaks, breaking the force of
the waves when they run high, and, in case of necessity, holding the sides of the

* These, of course, are not the original Eskimo tools, which were those of a stone-age people. Yet they
worked meteoric iron into instruments. The ‘“ Compte-rendu du Congrés International d’Anthropologie et
d’Archéologie Préhistoriques, 6™° Session, Bruxelles, 1872,’’ ‘contains an interesting article by Professor J. S.
Steenstrup on the subject. It is entitled “‘Sur l’Emploi du Fer Météorique par les Esquimaux du Greenland.”

264 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

boat in equilibrium with their hands. They commonly sail thirty miles a
day. — — —

“The small man’s boat, or Kajak, is six yards long, and shaped like a
weaver’s shuttle. The middle is not a foot and a half broad, and scarcely a foot
in depth. It is constructed of long laths with cross hoops, secured by whalebone,
and is cased in seal-skin leather. Both the ends of the boat are capped with
bone, on account of the friction to which they are exposed amongst the rocks.
In the middle of the leathern covering of the kajak is a round hole with a ring
of wood or bone. In this the Greenlander squats down upon a soft fur, the hoop
or margin reaching up to his hips, and tucks his water-pelt or great coat so tightly
round him, that no water can penetrate into the boat. This water-coat is also
fastened close round his neck and arms, by bone buttons. The harpoon-dart is
strapped to the kajak at his side. Before him lies the line rolled up, and behind
him the bladder. He grasps with both hands the middle of his Pautth, or oar,
which is made of solid deal plated with metal at the ends, and with bone along
the sides, and strikes the water quickly and evenly, beating time. Thus equipped,
he sets out to hunt seals or sea-fowl, with spirits as elate as the commander of
the largest man-of-war.” (Vol. I, page 137, etc.).

“There are three methods of taking the seal; either singly with the bladder,
or in company, by the clapper hunt, or in the winter on the ice. — — —

“The customary method is that in which the harpoon and bladder are em-
ployed. The Greenlander seated in his kajak with all his accoutrements, no
sooner perceives a seal than he approaches, if possible, to leeward of him, with
the sun on his back, lest he should be seen or scented by the animal. Concealing
himself behind a wave, he darts swiftly but softly forward, till he arrives within
the distance of five or six fathoms, taking care meanwhile, that the harpoon,
string, and bladder, lie in proper order. He then takes the paddle in his left
hand, and seizing the harpoon in his right, lances it by the casting board at the
seal. If the harpoon sinks deeper than the barbs, it immediately disengages
itself from the bone joint, and that again from the shaft, while the string is wound
from its roller in the kajak. The Greenlander, the moment he has struck the
seal, which dives down with the velocity of an arrow, throws the bladder after
him into the water. He then picks up the floating shaft, and restores it to its
eroove in the kajak. The bladder, which displaces a body of water of more than
a hundred pounds weight, is frequently dragged down by the seal; but the
animal is so wearied by this encumbrance, that he is obliged to reappear on the
surface in about a quarter of an hour to draw breath. The Greenlander, on per-
ceiving the bladder, rows up to it, and as soon as the seal makes his appearance,
wounds him with the great barbless lance; and this he repeats as often the ani-
mal emerges above water, till it is quite exhausted. He then despatches it with

EXTRACTS. 265

the small lance, and ties it to the left side of the kajak, after inflating the cavity
under the skin, that the body may float more lightly after him. ——— This
solitary method of seal-catching only succeeds with the stupid attarsoak.

‘Several in company pursue the cautious kassigiak and the attarsoit, in what
is called the Clapper-hunt, surrounding and killing them in great numbers at
certain seasons. In autumn these animals generally shoal together in the creeks,
particularly into Nepiset Sound in Baal’s River, a narrow firth upwards of four
miles in length. There the Greenlanders cut off their retreat, and drive them
under water by shouting, clapping, and throwing stones. The seals not being
able to remain long without respiration, are soon exhausted, and at last continue
so long on the surface that they may be conveniently surrounded and killed by the
Aglikak, oy missile dart. This hunt also affords the Greenlanders ample scope
for displaying their address. Their manceuvres are not unlike those of a body
of hussars. When the seal emerges, they all rush upon him like falcons with
deafening cries, and on the animal’s diving, which he is quickly compelled to do,
the whole party retire in an instant to their posts, watching to see at what spot
he will rise next. This is generally half a mile from the former place. If the
seal has the range of a sheet of water four or five miles square, he will keep the
huntsmen in play for two hours before he is totally exhausted. Should he retire
to the land in his distress, he is assailed with sticks and stones by the women
and children, while the men strike him in the rear. This is a very lucrative as
well as lively diversion to the Greenlanders. A single man sometimes receives
nine or ten seals for his share in a day.

“The third method of seal-catching, on the ice, is principally practised in
Disko, where the firths are frozen over in winter. They are taken in several
ways. The Greenlander posts himself near a breathing hole which the seal has
made, sitting upon a stool, with his feet resting on another lower one, to prevent
the effects of the cold. When a seal comes and puts its nose to the hole, he im-
mediately strikes it with his harpoon; then enlarging the opening, he draws out
his prize and kills it outright. At other times he lies upon his belly on a kind
of sledge, near one of the holes at which the seals come forth to bask in the sun.
A smaller aperture is made not far from the large one, into which another Green-
lander puts a harpoon with a very long shaft. He that lies on the ice, watches
at the great hole till he perceives a seal coming towards the harpoon. He then
makes a signal to his companion, who forcibly drives down his harpoon into the
seal.

“When the hunter descries a seal basking near his hole on the ice, he crawls
towards it on his belly, wagging his head and imitating its peculiar grunt. The
incautious animal, mistaking him for one of its companions, suffers him to
approach near enough to throw his lance.

“Again, when the current has made a large opening in the ice in spring, the

R34

266 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

Greenlanders, planting themselves round it, wait till the seals approach in droves
to the brink for air, and kill them with their harpoons. Many of these creatures
likewise meet with their death while sleeping and snoring in the sun.” (Vol.
I, page 142, etc.).*

Lloyd (T. G. B.): On the Beothues, a Tribe of Red Indians, supposed to be
extinct, which formerly inhabited Newfoundland ; Journal of the Anthropological
Institute of Great Britain and Ireland; Vol. IV, 1875.;— The Canoe (Plate IIT;
here Fig. 362) peculiar to these Indians comes next to be considered. The prin-
ciple on which the Red Indian’s canoe is constructed is perhaps nowhere else to
be met with. It has in a way no bottom at all, the side beginning at the very
keel, and from thence running up in a straight line to the edge or gunwale. A
transverse section of it at any part whatever makes an acute angle, only that it
is not sharpened to a perfect angular point, but is somewhat rounded to take in
the slight rod which serves by way of a keel. This rod is thickest in the middle
(being in that part about the size of the handle of a common hatchet), tapering
each way, and terminating with the slender curved extremities of the canoe.
The form of the keel will, then, it is evident, be the same with the outline of the
longitudinal section, which, when represented on paper, is nearly, if not exactly,
the half of an ellipse, longitudinally divided. Having thus drawn the keel,
whose two ends become also similar stems to the canoe, the side may easily be
completed after this manner: perpendicular to the middle of the keel, and at
two-thirds the height of its extremities, make a point; between this central and
the extreme points, describe each way a catenarian arch, with a free curve, and
you will have the form of the side, as well as a section of the canoe, for their

Fic. 362.—Canoe of the Beothucs, Newfoundland.

* Many of the details here given by Cranz are contained in Hans Egede’s earlier work on Greenland, I have
preferred quoting from Cranz, because*his descriptions are more elaborate.

+ The substance of this article is taken from a written narrative of an expedition to the district inhabited by
the Beothues, undertaken in the year 1768 by Captain John Cartwright, His original manuscript was in 1875 in
the possession of the Protestant Bishop of Newfoundland. Mr. Lloyd obtained permission to transcribe as much
of the document as served his purpose. He gives no account of fishing as practised by the Beothucs, probably
because Captain Cartwright’s manuscript contains none; but, as I have included in this work descriptions of
boats, I thought it proper to insert here that of the remarkable canoes in use among the natives of Newfound-
land.—The extract from De Laet following next refers to the same subject.

EXTRACTS. 267

difference is so very slight as not be discernible by the eye, which will be clearly
comprehended on recollecting that the side, as I before said, begins at the keel.
The coat, or shell, of the canoe is made of the largest and fairest sheets of birch
bark that can be procured, its form being nothing more than two sides joined
together, where the keel is to be introduced. It is very easily sewn together
entire. The sewing is perfectly neat, and performed with spruce roots, split to
the proper size. The portion along the gunwale is like our neatest basket-work.
The seams are payed over with a sort of gum, which appears to be a preparation
of turpentine, oil, and red ochre, which effectually resists all the effects of the
water. The sides are kept apart, and their proper distance preserved, by means
of a thwart of about the thickness of two fingers, whose ends are looped on the
rising points above mentioned in the middle of the gunwale. The extension
caused when this thwart is introduced lessens in some degree the length of the
canoe by drawing in still more its curling ends; it also fixes the extreme breadth
in the middle, which is requisite in a vessel having similar stems, and intended
for advancing with either of them foremost, as occasion may require, and by
bulging out their sides gives them a perceptible convexity, much more beautiful
than their first form. The gunwales are made with tapering sticks, two on each
side, the thick ends of which meet on the rising points of the main thwart, and,
being moulded to the shape of the canoe, their smaller ends terminate with those
of the keel rod in the extremities of each stem. On the outside of the proper
gunwales, with which they exactly correspond, and connected with them by a few
thongs, are also false gunwales, fixed there for the purpose of fenders. The
inside is lined entirely with sticks, or ribs, two or three inches broad, cut flat
and thin, and placed lengthwise, over which again others are crossed, which,
being bent in the middle, extend up each side to the gunwale, where they are
secured, serving as timbers. A shut thwart near each end, to prevent the canoe
from twisting or being bulged more open than proper, makes it complete. It
may readily be conceived, from its form and light fabric, that, being put into the
water, it would lie flat on one side, with the keel and gunwale both at the surface,
but, being ballasted with stones, it settles down to a proper depth in the water,
and then swims upright, when a covering of sods and moss being laid on the
stones, the Indians kneel on them, and manage the canoe with paddles. In fine
weather they sometimes set a sail on a very slight mast, fastened to the middle
thwart, but this is a practice for which their delicate and unsteady barks are by
no means calculated. A canoe about fourteen feet long is about four feet wide
in the middle.” (Page 26, etc.).

De Laet (Joannes): Novvs Orbis seu Descriptionis Indiw Occidentalis Libri
XVIII; Lvgd. Bat., 1688.—Translation: [The inhabitants of Newfoundland,
their condition and manners]. “Their boats are made of the bark of trees, at

268 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

most twenty feet long, about five feet wide, and in the form of a half-moon, being
raised and curved at both ends; they carry five persons at the most. By means
of these very light vessels they cut the waves with great velocity, and they carry
them on their shoulders in case of need; for, having no fixed dwelling-places,
they roam about like nomads, and very often change their abodes, either on the
spur of necessity, or when it appears convenient to them.” (Page 34).*

De Champlain (Le Sieur): Voyages et Descovvertores fuites en la Novvelle
France, depuis Vannée 1615, iusques a la fin de Vannée 1618 ; Paris, 1619; Cuvres
de Champlain publiées par 1 Abbé C-—H. Laverdiére; Vol. IV, Québec, 1870.—
Translation: [Hurons]. ‘The men make the nets to capture fish in summer
as well as in winter, when they generally fish, reaching their prey even below
the ice, either with the line or the seine.

“They perform this kind of fishing by making several holes in a round
through the ice, that by which they have to draw up the seine being some five
feet long and three feet wide. At this opening they begin to let down their net,
which is attached to a wooden pole from six to seven feet long, and having
brought it under the ice, they move this pole with the net from hole to hole,
where it is seized by a man or two through the holes; and this they continue
until the opening of five or six feet is reached. This done, they let go the net,
which sinks to the bottom of the water by means of certain small stones attached
to the end; and afterward they draw it up by its two ends, and thus secure the
fish caught in it. This is in short the method they employ in fishing during
winter.” (Page 101).+

Sagard Theodat (Le F. Gabriel): Histoire du Canada et Voyages que les Fréres
Mineurs Recollects y on faicts pour la Conuersion des Infidelles, etc.; Paris, 1636 ;
Paris reprint of 1866.—Translation: [Hurons]. ‘ From the cordage which the
women and girls have prepared, the men, during winter, make nets and seines
for catching fish even under the ice, by means of holes cut in different places,

* [Incolw Terre Nove, eorum habitus & mores]. ‘‘ Cymbe ipsis ex corticibus arborum composite, viginti
ut plurimum pedes longie, quinque aut circiter late & semilune® in modum, ad proram atque puppim erectz atque
incurve, quinque ad sammum vectorum capaces; illis utpote levissimis undas summa velocitate secant, easdem
quum opus fuerit humeris gestant; nam ne statis quidem sedibus se continent, sed vagi Nomadum instar sepius
habitationes mutant, prout illos aut necessitas cogit, aut commoditas invitat.”’

+ ‘‘ Les hommes font les rets pour pescher, & prendre le poisson en esté comme en hyuer, qu’ils peschent ordi-
nairement, & prennent le poisson iusques soubs la glace a la ligne, ou A la seine.

‘Bt la fagon de ceste pesche est telle, qu’ils font plusieurs trous en rond sur la glace, & celuy par ow ils doib-
uent tirer la seine a quelque cing pieds de long, & trois pieds de large, puis commancent (sic) par ceste ouuerture
i mettre leur filet, lesquels ils attachent 4 vne perche de bois, de six 4 sept pieds de long, & la mettent dessoubs la
glace, & font courir ceste perche de trou en trou, ot yn homme, ou deux, mettent les mains par les trous, prenant
la perche ot est attaché vn bout du filet, iusques & ce qu’ils viennent ioindre l’ouuerture de cing & six pieds. Ce
faict, ils laissent couller le rets au fonds de l’eau, qui va bas, par le moyen de certaines petites pierres qu’ils atta-
chent au bout, & estans au fonds de l’eau, ils le retirent a force de bras par ces deux bouts, & ainsi amenent le
poisson qui se trouue prins dedans. Voila la facon en bref comme ils en vsent pour leur pesche en hyuer.”’

EXTRACTS. 269

proceeding in the following way: by heavy blows with an axe they make a hole
of sufficient size in the ice of a lake or river; they make smaller ones at a cer-
tain distance from each other, and by means of a pole they pass a string from
hole to hole below the ice; this string, as long as the net to be extended, reaches
to the last hole, and by drawing it forward the whole net attached to it is stretched
out in the water. To examine the net, it is drawn through the largest opening,
and the fish taken out. Afterward it is only necessary to draw back the string
for stretching the net again, the pole simply serving for passing the string the
first time.” (Vol. I, page 245).*

‘“We found in the bellies of several large fishes hooks made of a piece of
wood and a bone, so placed as to form a hook, and very neatly bound together
with hemp; but the line being too weak for drawing on board such large fishes,
the result was the loss of the labor of the fishermen, and of the hooks thrown
into the sea by them; for, in verity, there are in this fresh-water sea sturgeon,
assihendos, trout, and pike of such monstrous size, that larger ones cannot be
seen anywhere else, not to speak of several other kinds of fish there caught,
which are here (in Europe) unknown.” (Vol. III, page 588).+

“As for the fishes found in the rivers and lakes in the country of our Hurons,
and particularly in the fresh-water sea, the principal are the Assihendo, of which
we have spoken elsewhere, and trout, called Ahouyoche by them, which are
mostly of extraordinary size, insomuch that I have not seen there any that were
not bigger than the largest we have on this side; their flesh is ordinarily red,
though in some of a yellow or orange color, yet of excellent taste.

“The pike, called Soruissan, which they catch here also with the sturgeon,
called Hixrahon, astonish people, for some are of marvelous size, and more pal-
atable than any of our species of fish. ——-— Some weeks after the season for
catching large fish, they pursue the capture of the Einchataon, a kind somewhat

* « Pendant l’Hyuer, du filet que les femmes & filles ont disposé, les hommes en font des rets & seines pour
pescher & prendre le poisson iusques sous la glace, par le moyen des trous qu’ils y font en plusieurs endroits, dont
en voicy la methode.

‘«T]s font 4 grands coups de hache un trou assez grandelet dans la glace d’un lac ou de la riuiere; ils en font
d’autres plus petits d’espaces en espaces, & auec des perches ils passent une fiscelle de trous en trous par dessous la
glace: ceste fiscelle aussi longue que les rets qu’on veut tendre, se va arrester au dernier trou, par lequel on tire,
& on estend dedans l’eau toute la rets qui luy est attaché. Quand on les veut visiter, on les retire par la plus
grande ouverture, pour en recueillir le poisson, puis il ne faut que retirer la fiscelle pour les retendre, les perches

ne seruans qu’a passer la premiere fois la fiscelle.””

+ ‘Nous trouuasmes dans le ventre de plusieurs grands poissons, des ains faicts d’un morceau de bois acccom-
modé auee un os, qui seruoit de crochet & lié fort proprement auec de leur chanure, mais la corde trop foible pour
tirer a bord de si gros poissons, auoit faict perdre & la peine & les ains de ceux qui les auoient iettez en mer, car
veritablement il y a dans cette mer douce des esturgeons, assihendos, truittes & brochets, si monstrueusement
grands qu’il ne s’en voit point ailleurs de plus gros, non plus que de plusieurs autres especes de poissons qu’on y

pesche & qui nous sont icy incognus,”’

270 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

resembling our barbel, and about a foot and a half or a little less in length: this
fish serves to give taste to their sagamite* during winter. — — —

“Jn another season they catch with the seine a certain kind of fish, which
seem to correspond to our smallest herrings, and which they eat fresh or buc-
caned, ——— _ They also catch several other species of fish; but as they are
unknown to us, and as similar ones are not found in our rivers, I make no men-
tion of them, — — —

“Eel in the proper season is an invaluable article to our Montagnais. I
have admired the extreme abundance of this fish in some of the rivers of our
Canada, where every year uncountable hundreds are caught. They come just in
time, for, were it not for this succor, one would be greatly embarrassed, more
especially in some months of the year; the savages and the members of our
orders use them as meat sent by Heaven for their relief and solace. They catch
them in two ways: with a wicker basket, or with a harpoon during night by the
light of fire. They construct with some ingenuity wicker baskets, long and wide,
and large enough to hold five or six eels. When the sea is low, they deposit
them on the sand in a suitable remote place, securing them in a manner that the
tide cannot carry them off. At both sides they heap up stones, which extend
like a chain or small wall on both sides, in order that the fish, which always
seeks the bottom, in encountering this obstacle, may glide slowly toward the
aperture of the basket to which the stones lead. When the sea has risen, it
covers the baskets; and after it has subsided again, they are examined. Some-
times hundred or two hundred eels are found at one tide; sometimes more, and
occasionally none at all, according to wind and weather. When the sea is
agitated, many are caught; when it is calm, few or none; but then they have
recourse to their harpoons.; — — —

“The savages cure fish in the following manner: they let them drip a little,
and then cut off the heads and tails; they open them at the back, and having
emptied them, they make incisions, to allow the smoke to penetrate them thor-
oughly ; the perches in their huts are all loaded with them. When they are well
buecaned, they bring them together, and make them into packages, each contain-
ing about a hundred.” (Vol. ILI, page 693, etc.).t

* Previously mentioned in Sagard’s work. It was maize parched in the ashes and pounded, for making pulse.

} This account of eel-fishing and the succeeding description of fish-drying correspond almost literally with
those given by Father Le Jeune in his ‘‘ Relation ’’ (published in 1685), from which the extract following next
is made. Concerning the eel-traps, however, Father Le Jeune states they were large enough to hold five or six
hundred eels (capables de tenir cing et six cens anguilles), while Sagard speaks only of five or six (capables de con-
tenir cing § six anguilles).

{ ‘‘ Pour ce qui est des poissons qui se retrounent dans les riuieres & lacs au pais de nos Hurons, & particu-
lierement 4 la mer douce, les principaux sont 1’Assihendo, duquel nous auons parlé ailleurs, & des Truictes, qu’ils
appellent Ahouyoche, lesquelles sont de desmesurée grandeur pour la pluspart, & n’y en ay veu aucune qui ne soit
plus grosse que les plus grandes que nous ayons par deca: leur chair est communement rouge, sinon 4 quelqu’unes
qu’elle se voit iaune ou orangée, mais excellemment bonne,

EXTRACTS. Papal

Le Ievne (Le P. Pavl): Relation de ce qui s'est passé en la Novvelle France svr
le grand Flevve de S. Lavrens en Vannée 1684 ;* Relations des Jésuites, ete. ; Vol.
I, Québec, 1858.—Translation : “ This harpoon (for spearing eel) is an instrument
consisting of a long stick, of the thickness of three fingers, to the end of which
they fasten an iron spike,+ which they arm on each side with a curved prong,
both coming nearly together at the end of the iron point. In striking an eel with
this harpoon, they drive the iron into it, and the two prongs, yielding to the
force of the thrust, let in the eel, after which they contract again by themselves
(having opened merely by the shock of the stroke), and prevent the speared eel
from escaping.

“This fishing with the harpoon is ordinarily done only during the night:
two savages sit in a canoe, one behind who steers and paddles, and the other
ahead, seeking by the light of a bark torch, attached to the prow of the eraft,
his prey with the eyes, while gently moving along the bank of this great river.
Perceiving an eel, he darts his harpoon without losing hold of it, pierces the eel
as stated, and then throws it into his canoe. Some will catch three hundred, and.
many more, in a single night, but very few at other times.” (Page 44).¢

‘Les Brochets, appellez Soruissan, qu’ils y peschent aussi auec les Esturgeons nommez Hixrahon, estonnent
les personnes, tant il s’y en voit de merueilleusement grands, & friands au dela de toutes nos especes de poissons.
—-—-— Quelques sepmaines apres la pesche des grands poissons, ils vont a celle de 1’Einchataon, qui est un
poisson un peu approchant aux barbeaux par dega, long d’enuiron un pied & demy, ou peu moins: ce poisson leur
sert pour donner goust a leur sagamité pendant l’Hyuer. — — —

‘« En autre saison ils y peschent a la ceine une certaine espece de poissons, qui semblent estre de nos harangs,

mais des plus petits, lesquels ils mangent frais & boucanez. — — — Ils peschent aussi de plusieurs autres especes

de poissons, mais comme ils nous sont incognus, & qu’il ne s’en trouue point de pareils en nos riuieres, ie n’en fais
point aussi de mention. — — —

‘“« L’anguille en sa saison est une manne qui n’a point de prix chez nos Montagnais. I’ay admiré l’extreme
abondance de ce poisson, en quelqu’unes des riuieres de nostre Canada, ot il s’en pesche tous les ans vers l’Automne
une infinité de centaines, qui viennent fort 4 propos, car n’estoit ce secours on se trouueroit bien souuent empesché
en quelques mois de l’année principalement; les Sauuages & nos Religieux en usent comme viande enuoyée du
Ciel pour leur soulagement & consolation. Ils la peschent en deux fagons, auec une nasse, ou auec un harpon, ce
qui se faict la nuict 4 la clarté du feu. Ils font des nasses auec assez d’industrie, longues & grosses, capables de
contenir cing & six anguilles: la mer estant basse, ils les placent sur le sable en quelque lieu propre & reculé, les
asseurent en sorte que les marées ne les peuuent emporter: aux deux costez ils amassent des pierres, qu’ils estendent
comme une chuisne ou petite muraille de part & d’autre, afin que ce poisson qui va tousiours au fond rencontrant
cet obstacle, se glisse doucement vers l’emboucheure de la nasse of le conduisent ces pierres: la mer venant 4 se
grossir, couure la nasse, puis se rabaissant, on la va visiter: par fois on y trouue cent ou deux cens anguilles d’une
marée, quelquefois plus, & d’autres fois point du tout, selon les vents & les temps. Quand la mer est agitée, on en
prend beaucoup, quand elle est calme, peu ou point, mais alors ils ont recours 4 leur harpon. — — —

‘‘ Voicy comment les Sauuages font seicher de ces poissons, Ils les laissent un peu esgoutter, puis leur coup-
pent la teste & la queué, ils les ouurent par le dos, puis les ayant vuidés ils les tailladent, afin que la fumée entre
par tout: les perches de leurs cabanes en sont toutes chargées. Estans bien boucanez, ils les accouplent & en font
de gros paquets enuiron d’une centaine 4 la fois.”’

* Published at Paris in 1635.

+ The iron mentioned by Father Le Jeune, of course, was furnished by whites. The armature of this gig in
its original state consisted of bone or horn.

t ‘*Ce harpon est yn instrument composé d’yn long baston, gros de trois doigts, au bout duquel ils attachent
vn fer pointu, lequel ils arment de part et d’autre de deux petits bastons recourbés, qui se viennent quasi ioindre

272 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

Charlevoix (Father): Letters to the Dutchess (st) of Lesdiguieres, ete. ; Lon-
don, 1763.—[Indians of Canada]. ‘These People have a wonderful Skill in
striking Fish in the Water, especially in the Torrents. They fish also with the
Sein, and they have an odd Ceremony before they use this Net. They marry it
to two young Maids, and during the Wedding Feast they place it between the
two Brides. They exhort it very seriously to take a great many Fish, and they
think to engage it to do so by making great Presents to its pretended Fathers-in

Law. —— — ‘The Sturgeon here is a Sea and a fresh Water Fish; for they
take it upon the Coasts of Canada, and in the great Lakes which cross the River
St. Laurence. —— — The Savages take them in the Lakes in this Manner:

Two Men are at the two Ends of a Canoe; he behind steers, and the other stands
up, holding a Dart in one Hand, to which a long Cord is fastened, the other End
is tied to one of the Bars of the Canoe. As soon as he sees the Sturgeon in his
Reach, he throws his Dart, and endeavours to strike where there are no Seales ;
if the Fish is wounded it flies, and draws the Canoe also pretty swiftly, but after
having swam about 150 Paces it dies, then they draw up the Cord and take it.”
(Page 86, etc.).

“The Michilimakinacs lived almost only by Fishing, and there is perhaps
no Place in the World where there is such Plenty of Fish. The most common
Fish in the three Lakes, and in the Rivers that flow into them, are the Herring,
the Carp, the Gilt Fish, the Pike, the Sturgeon, the Astikamegue, or white Fish,
and above all, the Trout. They take three Sorts of the last, among which some
are of a monstrous Size, and in such Numbers, that a Savage with his Spear will
sometimes strike fifty in three Hours Time. But the most famous of all is the
White Fish: It is about the Bigness and Shape of a Mackerel; 1 know of no
Kind of Fish that is better eating. The Savages say, that it was Michabou who
taught their Ancestors to fish, that he invented Nets, and that he took the Notion
of them from the Spider’s Web. These People, as you see, Madam, do not give
greater Honour to their God than he deserves, since they are not afraid of send-
ing him to School to a vile Insect.” (Page 194).

[Bark canoes]. “I believe that I have already told you that there are two
Sorts of them, the one of Elm Bark, which are wider and more clumsily built,
but commonly bigger. I know none but the Zroguois who have any of this Sort.

au bout de la pointe du fer: quand ils viennent A frapper vne anguille de ce harpon, ils l’embrochent dans ce fer,
les deux bastons adjoinets, cedans par la force du coup, et laissans entrer l’anguille; puis se reserrans d’eux
mesmes, car ils ne s’ouurent que par la secousse du coup, ils empéchent que l’anguille embrochée ne ressorte.

“Cette pesche au harpon ne se fait ordinairement que la nuict: ils se mettent deux Sauuages dans vn canot,
l’'vn derriere qui le gouuerne et qui rame, et l’autre est deuant, lequel a la faueur d’vn flambeau d’écorce, attaché
4 la proué de son vaisseau, s’en va cherchant la proye de ses yeux, rodans doucement sur le bord de ce grand fleuue;
apperceuant vne Anguille, il lance son harpon sans le quitter, la perce comme i’ay dit, puis la iette dans son canot ;
il y en a tel qui en prendra trois cens en vne nuict, et bien dauantage, quelquefois fort peu.”

EXTRACTS. 273

The others are of the Bark of Birch Trees, of a Width less in Proportion than
their Length, and much better made: It is these that I am going to describe,
because all the French, and almost all the Savages use them.

“They lay the Bark, which is very thick, on flat and very thin Ribs made
of Cedar: These Ribs are confined their whole Length by small Cross-Bars,
which separate the Seats of the Canoe; two main Pieces of the same Wood, to
which these little Bars are sew’d, strengthen the whole Machine. Between the
Ribs and the Bark they thrust little Pieces of Cedar, which are thinner still than
the Ribs, and which help to strengthen the Canoe, the two Ends of which rise
by Degrees, and insensibly end in sharp Points that turn inwards. These two
Ends are exactly alike; so that to change their Course, and turn back, the
Canoe-Men need only change Hands. He who is behind steers with his Oar,
working continually; and the greatest Occupation of him who is forward, is to
take Care that the Canoe touches nothing to burst it. They sit or kneel on the
Bottom, and their Oars are Paddles of five or six Feet long, commonly of Maple;
but when they go against a Current that is pretty strong, they must use a Pole,
and stand upright. One must have a good deal of Practice to preserve a Ballance
in this Exercise, for nothing is lighter, and of Consequence easier to overset, than
these Canoes; the greatest of which, with their Loading, does not draw more
than half a Foot Water.

“The Bark of which these Canoes are made, as well as the Ribs and the
Bars, are sew’d with the Roots of Fir, which are more pliable, and dry much
less than the Ozier. All the Seams are gum’d within and without, but they must
be viewed every Day, to see that the Gum is not peeled off. The largest Canoes
carry twelve Men, two upon a Seat; and 40001. Weight. Of all the Savages,
the most skilful Builders of Canoes are the Outaouais ; and in general the Algon-
qun Nations succeed herein better than the Hurons. Few French as yet can
make them even tolerably; but to guide them, they are at least as safe as the
Savages of the Country.” (Page 117).*

Henry (Alexander): Travels and Adventures in Canada and the Indian Terri-
tories, between the years 1760 and 1776; New York, 1809.—‘‘ The white-fish is
taken (at Michilimakinac) in nets which are set under the ice. To do this,

* Father Lafitau gives a similar account of the building of bark canoes, bestowing much praise on those made
by the Algonkin nations, which he calls the master-pieces of savage art, but speaking disapprovingly of the Iro-
quois canoes.

“The Troquois,”’ he says, ‘‘ make no canoes of birch bark, but buy them from other nations, or make in their
stead canoes of elm bark, These latter scarcely serve for more than one voyage, as they are less solid than the
others, and can easily be replaced in case of loss. They consist of one piece, and are made with all possible inac-
curacy and clumsiness.’’—Meurs des Sauvages Amériquains ; Paris, 1724; Vol. II, p. 213, ete.

By far the best description of modern manufacture of bark canoes among the Ojibways is that by J. G. Kohl,
who devotes to the subject a whole chapter (or letter) in his work entitled ‘‘ Kitschi-Gami oder Erzihlungen vom
Obern See,” published at Bremen in 1859 (Vol. I, p. 41, ete.).—This work has been translated into English by
L, Wraxall, under the title ‘‘ Kitchi Gami. Wanderings round Lake Superior ”’ (London, 1860).

R 35

274. PREHISTORIC FISHING.

several holes are made in the ice, each at such distance from that behind it, as
that it may be reached, under the ice, by the end of a pole. A line, of sixty
fathoms in length, is thus conveyed from hole to hole, till it is extended to the
length desired. This done, the pole is taken out, and with it one end of the line,
to which the end is then fastened. The line being now drawn back by an assist-
ant, who holds the opposite extremity, the net is brought under, and a large stone
is made fast to the sinking-line at each end, and let down to the bottom; and
the net is spread in the water, by lighters on its upper edge, sinkers on its lower,
in the usual manner. ‘The fish, running against the net, entangle their gills in
the meshes, and are thus detained till taken up.” (Page 55).

“These rapids (of Sault de Sainte-Marie) are beset with rocks of the most
dangerous description ; and yet they are the scene of a fishery in which all their
dangers are braved and mastered with singular expertness. They are full of
white-fish, much larger and more excellent than those of Michilimakinae, and
which are found here during the greater part of the season, weighing, in general,
from six pounds to fifteen.

“The method of taking them is this: each canoe carries two men, one of
whom steers with a paddle, and the other is provided with a pole, ten feet in
length, and at the end of which is affixed a scoop-net. The steersman sets the
canoe from the eddy of one rock to that of another; while the fisherman in the
prow, who sees through the pellucid element the prey of which he is in pursuit,
dips his net, and sometimes brings up, at every succeeding dip, as many as it
can contain. The fish are often crowded together in the water in great numbers ;
and a skilful fisherman, in autumn, will take five hundred in two hours.

“This fishery is of great moment to the surrounding Indians, whom it sup-
plies with a large proportion of their winter’s provision; for, having taken the
fish in the manner described, they cure them by drying in the smoke, and lay
them up in large quantities.” (Page 58, etc.).

Hearne (Samuel): A Journey from Prince of Wales’s Fort in Hudson's Bay,
to the Northern Ocean. Undertaken by Order of the Hudson's Bay Company, for
the Discovery of Copper Mines, a North West Passage, &c. In the years 1769,
1770, 1771, & 1772; London, 1795.—“ The track of land inhabited by the
Northern Indians is very extensive, reaching from the fifty-ninth to the sixty-
eighth degree of North latitude; and from East to West is upward of five hun-
dred miles wide. It is bounded by Churchill River on the South, the Athapus-
cow Indians’ Country on the West; the Dog-ribbed and Copper Indians’ Country
on the North, and by Hudson’s Bay on the East. — — —

“The many lakes and rivers with which this part of the country abounds,
though they do not furnish the natives with water-carriage, are yet of infinite
advantage to them; as they afford great numbers of fish, both in Summer and

EXTRACTS. 210

Winter. The only species caught in those parts are trout, tittameg, (or tickomeg,
tench, two sorts of barble, (called by the Southern Indians N a-may-pith,) burbot,
pike, and a few perch. The four former are caught in all parts of this country,
as well the woody as the barren; but the three latter are only caught to the
Westward, in such lakes and rivers as are situated among the woods; and though
some of those rivers lead to the barren ground, yet the three last mentioned
species of fish are seldom caught beyond the edge of the woods, not even in the
Summer season. — — —

“The only method practised by those people to catch fish either in Winter
or Summer, is by angling and setting nets; both of which methods is attended
with much superstition, ceremony, and unnecessary trouble; but I will endeavour
to deseribe them in as plain and brief a manner as possible.

“When they make a new fishing-net, which is always composed of small
thongs cut from raw deer-skins, they take a number of birds’ bills and feet, and
tie them, a little apart from each other, to the head and foot rope of the net, and
at the four corners generally fasten some of the toes and jaws of the otters and
jackashes. The birds’ feet and bills made choice of on such occasions are gen-
erally those of the laughing goose, wavey, (or white goose,) gulls, loons, and
black-heads ; and unless some or all of these be fastened to the net, they will not
attempt to put it into the water, as they firmly believe it would not catch a single
fish.

“A net thus accoutred is fit for setting whenever occasion requires, and
opportunity offers; but the first fish of whatever species caught in it, are not to
be sodden in the water, but broiled whole on the fire, and the flesh carefully taken
from the bones without dislocating one joint; after which the bones are laid on
the fire at full length and burnt. A strict observance of these rules is supposed
to be of the utmost importance in promoting the future success of the new net;
and a neglect of them would render it not worth a farthing.

‘““ When they fish in rivers, or narrow channels that join two lakes together,
they could frequentiy, by tying two, three, or more nets together, spread over the
whole breadth of the channel, and intercept every sizable fish that passed; but
instead of that, they scatter the nets at a considerable distance from each other,
from a superstitious notion, that were they kept close together, one net would be
jealous of its neighbor, and by that means not one of them would catch a single
fish.

“The methods used, and strictly observed, when angling, are equally absurd
as those I have mentioned; for when they bait a hook, a composition of four,
five, or six articles (all animal substances) by way of charm, is concealed under
the bait, which is always sewed round the hook. In fact, the only bait used by
those people is in their opinion a composition of charms, inclosed within a bit of
fish-skin, so as in some measure to resemble a small fish. — — —

276 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

“They have also a notion that fish of the same species inhabiting different
parts of the country, are fond of different things; so that almost every lake and
river they arrive at, obliges them to alter the composition of the charm. The
same rule is observed on broiling the first fruits of a new hook that is used for a
new net; an old hook that has already been successful in catching large fish 1s
esteemed of more value than a handful of new ones which have never been tried.”
(Page 326, etc.).

Mackenzie (Alexander): Voyages from Montreal, etc., to the Frozen and
Pacific Oceans ; in the years 1789 and 1798 ; London, 1801.—[Slave and Dogrib
Indians]. “They always keep a large quantity of the fibres of willow bark,
which they work into thread on their thighs. Their nets are from three to forty
fathoms in length, and from thirteen to thirty-six meshes in depth. The short
deep ones they set in the eddy current of rivers, and the long ones in the lakes.
They likewise make lines of the sinews of the rein-deer, and manufacture their
hooks. from wood, horn, or bone. —— — ‘Their canoes are small, pointed at
both ends, flat-bottomed and covered in the fore part. They are made of the
bark of the birch-tree and fir-wood, but of so slight a construction, that the man
whom one of these light vessels bears on the water, can, in return, carry it over
land without any difficulty. It is very seldom that more than one person em-
barks in them, nor are they capable of receiving more than two. The paddles
are six feet long, one half of which is occupied by a blade, of about eight inches
wide.” (Pages 37, 39).

[Indians of Peace River District]. “Their nets and fishing-lines are made
of willow-bark and nettles; those made of the latter are finer and smoother than
if made with hempen thread. Their hooks are small bones, fixed in pieces of
wood split for that purpose, and tied round with fine watape.* ——— They
have spruce bark in great plenty, with which they make their canoes, an opera-
tion that does not require any great portion of skill or ingenuity, and is managed
in the following manner:— The bark is taken off the tree the whole length of
the intended canoe, which is commonly about eighteen feet, and is sewed with
watape at both ends; two laths are then laid, and fixed along the edge of the
bark which forms the gunwale; in these are fixed the bars, and against them
bear the ribs or timbers, that are cut to the length to which the bark can be
stretched; and, to give additional strength, strips of wood are laid between them ;
to make the whole water-tight, gum is abundantly employed. These vessels
carry from two to five people.” (Page 206, etc.) .+

* Wattap: a kind of thread made of the small roots of the spruce-tree,

+ In the course of his narrative, Mackenzie describes other appliances for fishing (weirs, fish-traps); but he
fails to state by what tribes they were constructed.

EXTRACTS. 277

Williams (Roger): A Key into the Language of America, or an Help to the
Language of the Natives in that Part of America called New-England ; London,
1643. Reprinted as Vol. I of the “ Collections of the Rhode Island Historical
Society ;” Providence, 1827.—‘ Misstickeke-kéquock, Basse. The Indians (and
the English too) make a daintie dish of the Uppaquontup, or head of this Fish;
and well they may, the braines and fat of it being very much, and sweet as
marrow.

‘‘ Katiposh-shatioog, Sturgeon. Obs: Divers part of the Countrey abound
with this Fish; yet the Natives for the goodnesse and greatnesse of it, much
prize it, and will neither furnish the English with so many, nor so cheape, that
any great trade is like to be made of it, untill the English themselves are fit to
follow the fishing.

“The Natives venture one or two in a Canow, and with an harping Iron, or
such like Instrument sticke this fish, and so hale it into their Canow ; sometimes
they take them by their nets, which they make strong of Hemp.

“Ashop, their nets. Which they will set thwart some little River or Cove
wherein they kill Basse (at the fall of the water) with their arrows, or sharp
sticks, especially if headed with Iron, gotten from the English, &&. — — —

‘“‘Mishcup-patiog, Sequanamauquock, Breame. Obs: Of this Fish there is
abundance, which the Natives drie in the Sunne and smoake; and some English
begin to salt, both wayes they keepe all the yeere; and it is hoped it may be as
well accepted as Cod at a Market, and better, if once knowne. — — —

‘“‘Pétop-patiog, Whales. Which in some places are often cast up; I have
seene some of them, but not above sixtie foot long: The Natives cut them out in
severall parcells, and give and send farre and neere for an acceptable present, or
dish. — — —

“Sickissuog, Clams. Obs: This is a sweet kind of shellfish, which all In-
dians generally over the Countrey, Winter and Summer delight in; and at low
water the women dig for them: this fish and the naturall liquors of it, they boile,
and it makes their broth and their Nasattmp (which is a kind of thickened
broth) and their bread seasonable and savoury, in stead of Salt: and for that
the English Swine dig and root these Clams wheresoever they come, and watch
the low water (as the Indian women do) therefore of all the English Cattell, the
Swine (as also because of their filthy disposition) are most hatefull to all Natives,
and they call them filthy cut throats, &e.

“Séqunnock, Poquatthock, A Horse fish.* Obs: This the English call
Hens, a little thick shell fish which the Indians wade deepe and dive for, and
after they have eaten the meat there (in those which are good) they breake out
the shell, about halfe an inch of a blacke part of it, of which they make their
Suckatthock, or blackmoney, which is to them pretious.

* The hard-shell clam (Venus mercenaria, Lin.),

278 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

“ Meteatihock, The Periwinkle. Of which they make their Wémpan or
white money, of halfe the value of their Suckawhock, or blacke money. — — —

“The Natives take exceeding great paines in their fishing, especially in
watching their seasons by night; so that frequently they lay their naked bodies
many a cold night on the cold shoare about a fire of two or three sticks, and oft
in the night search their Nets; and sometimes goe in and stay longer in frozen
water.” (Page 102, etc.).*

‘Obs: Mishoon, an Indian Boat, or Canow made of a Pine or Oake, or
Chesnut-tree: I have seene a Native goe into the woods with his hatchet carrying
onely a Basket of Corne with him, and stones to strike fire when he had felled his
tree (being a Chesnut) he made him a little House or shed of the bark of it, he
puts fire and followes the burning of it with fire, in the midst in many places:
his corne he boyles and hath the Brook by him, and sometimes angles for a little
fish: but so hee continues burning and hewing untill he hath within ten or twelve
dayes (lying there at his worke alone) finished, and (getting hands,) lanched his
Boate; with which afterward hee ventures out to fish in the Ocean.

‘ Mishoonémese, A little Canow. Some of them will not well carry above
three or foure: but some of them twenty, thirty, forty men. — — —

“Obs: It is wonderfull to see how they will venture in those Canoes, and
how (being oft overset as I have myselfe been with them) they will swim a mile,
yea two or more safe to Land: I having been necessitated to passe Waters diverse
times with them, it hath pleased God to make them many times the instruments
of my preservation; and when sometimes in great danger I have questioned
safety, they have said to me: Feare not, if we be overset I will carry you safe
to Land.” (Page 98, etc.).

(Johnson [Captain Edward]): A History of New-England. From the English
planting in the Yeere 1628. untill the Yeere 1652; London, 1654.—* They are
very good marks-men with their Bowe and Arrows. Their Boyes will ordi-
narily shoot fish with their Arrowes as they swim in the shallow Rivers, they
draw the Arrow halfe way putting the point of it into the water, they let flye and
strike the fish through.” (Page 227).

Ogilby (John): America: being the Latest and most Accurate Description of
New-England, etc.; London, 1671.—‘‘In the Trade of Fishing they are very
expert, being experienc’d in the knowledge of all Baits for several Fishes, and
divers Seasons; being not ignorant likewise of the removal of Fishes, knowing
when to Fish in Rivers, and when at Rocks, when in Bays, and when at Seas:
Since the Lnglish came they are furnish’d with English Hooks and Lines, for before

* In the same chapter Roger Williams gives the Narragansett words for fishing-line, hooks in general, small
hooks, large hooks, bait, net, two kinds of eel-pots, ete.

EXTRACTS. 279

they made them of Hemp, being more curiously wrought, of stronger Materials
than ours, and hook’d with Bone-Hooks; but laziness drives them to buy, more
than profit or commendations wins them to make of their own. They make like-
wise very strong Sturgeon-nets, with which they catch Sturgeons of twelve, four-
teen, and sixteen, and some eighteen Foot long in the daytime, and in the night-
time they betake themselves to their Birchen Canoos, in which they carry a forty-
fathom Line, with a sharp-bearded Dart fastened at the end thereof; then lighting
a Torch made of Birchen Rinds, they wave it to and again by their Canoo side,
which the Sturgeon much delighted with, comes to them tumbling and playing,
turning up his white Belly, into which they thrust their Lance, his Back being
impenetrable; which done, they hale to the Shore their strugling Price. They
have often recourse into the Rocks whereupon the Sea beats, in warm Weather,
to look out for sleepy Seals, whose Oyl they much esteem, using it for divers
things. In Summer they Fish any where, but in Winter in the fresh Water
onely, and Ponds; in frosty Weather they cut round Holes in the Ice, about
which they will sit like so many Apes with their naked Breeches upon the cold
Ice, catching of Pikes, Pearches, Breams, and other sorts of fresh-Water Fish.
——w— Their Cordage is so even, soft, and smooth, that it looks more like
Silk than Hemp. Their Sturgeon Nets are not deep, nor above thirty or forty
Foot long, which in ebbing low Waters they stake fast to the Ground where they
are sure the Sturgeon will come, never looking more at it till the next low Water.
Their Canoos are made either of Pine-trees, which before they were acquainted
with English Tools, they burn’d hollow, scraping them smooth with Clam-shells
and Oyster-shells, cutting their out-sides with Stone Hatchets. These Boats are
not above a Foot and a half, or two Foot wide, and twenty Foot long. Their
other Canoos be made of thin Birch Rinds, close Ribb’d, and on the in-side with
broad, thin Hoops, like the Hoops of a Tub; these are made very light, a Man
may carry one of them a Mile, being made purposely to carry from River to
River, and from Bay to Bay, to shorten Land-passages. In these cockling Fly-
boats, wherein an English-man can scarce sit without a fearful tottering, they will
venture to Sea, when an English Shallop dare not bear a Knot of Sail, scudding
over the over-grown Waves as fast as a wind-driven Ship, being driven by their
Paddles, being much like Battle-doors; if a cross Wave (which is seldom) turn
her Keel up-side down, they by swimming free her, and scramble into her again.”
(Page 157, etc.).*

Josselyn (John): An Account of Two Voyages to New-England ; London, 1674.
— Their fishing followes in the spring, summer and fall of the leaf. First for

* After having made the preceding extract from Ogilby’s quarto work, I discovered that he had taken the
whole of it almost literally from Chapters XVI and XVII of William Wood’s ‘‘ New England’s Prospect”
(London, 1635). I prefer, however, retaining Ogilby’s text, the latter being less barbarous in the spelling than
the original one, which appeared thirty-six years earlier.

280 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

Lobsters, Clams, Flouke, Lumps or Podles, and Alewives ; afterwards for Bass, Cod,
Rock, Blew-fish, Salmon, and Lampres, &c.

“The Lobsters they take in large Bayes when it is low water, the wind still,
going out in their Birchen-Canows with a staff two or three yards long, made
small and sharpen’d at one end, and nick’d with deep nicks to take hold. When
they spye the Lobster crawling upon the Sand in two Fathom water, more or less,
they stick him towards the head and bring him up. I have known thirty Lod-
sters taken by an Jndian lad in an hour and a half, thus they take Flowke and
Lumps ; Clams they dig out of the Clambanks upon the flats and in creeks when
it is low water, where they are bedded sometimes a yard deep one upon another,
the beds a quarter of a mile in length, and less, the Alewives they take with Nets
like a pursenet put upon around hoop’d stick with a handle in fresh ponds where
they come to spawn. The Bass and Blew-fish they take in harbours, and at the
mouth of barr’d Rivers being in their Canows, striking them with a fisgig,
a kind of dart or staff, to the lower end whereof they fasten a sharp jagged bone
(since they make them of Iron) with a string fastened to it, as soon as the fish is
struck they pull away the staff, leaving the bony head in the fishes body and
fasten the other end of the string to the Canow: Thus they will hale after them
to shore half a dozen or half a score great fishes: this way they take Sturgeon ;
and in dark evenings when they are upon the fishing ground near a Bar of Sand
(where the Sturgeon feeds upon small fishes [like Eals] that are called Lances
sucking them out of the Sands where they lye hid, with their hollow Trunks,
for other mouth they have none) the Jndian lights a piece of dry Birch- Bark
which breaks out into a flame & holds it over the side of his Canow, the Sturgeon
seeing this glaring light mounts to the Surface of the water where he is slain and
taken with a fisgig. Salmons and Lampres are catch’d at the falls of Rivers.”
(Page 140, etc.).

“Ships they have none, but do prettily imitate ours in their Birchen-pinnaces,
their Canows are made of Birch, they shape them with flat Ribbs of white Cedar,
and cover them with large sheets of Birch-bark, sowing them through with strong
threds of Spruse-Roots or white Cedar, and pitch them with a mixture of Turpen-
tine and the hard rosen that is dryed with the Air on the outside of the Bark of
Firr-Trees. These will carry half a dozen or three or four men and a considerable
fraight, in these they swim to Sea, twenty, nay forty miles, keeping from the
shore a league or two, sometimes to shorten their voyage when they are to double
a Cape they will put to shore, and two of them taking up the Canow carry it
cross the Cape or neck of land to the other side, and to Sea again; they will
indure an incredible great Sea, mounting upon the working billowes like a piece
of Corke; but they require skilful hands to guide them in rough weather, none
but the Jndians scarce dare to undertake it.” (Page 144, etc.).

EXTRACTS. 281

Van der Donck (Adriaen): A Description of the New Netherlands, ete. ;
(original printed at Amsterdam, 1656); Collections of the New-York Historical
Society, Second Series, Vol. I, New-York, 1841—“To hunting and fishing the
Indians are all extravagantly inclined, and they have their particular seasons
for these engagements. In the spring and part of the summer, they practise fish-
ing. When the wild herbage begins to grow up in the woods, the first hunting
season begins, and then many of their young men leave the fisheries for the pur-
pose of hunting; but the old and thoughtful men remain at the fisheries until
the second and principal hunting season, which they also attend, but with snares
only. Their fishing is carried on in the inland waters, and by those who dwell
near the sea, or the sea-islands. The latter have particular advantages. Their
fishing is done with seines, set-nets, small fikes, wears, and laying hooks. They
do not know how to salt fish, or how to cure fish properly. They sometimes dry
fish to preserve the same, but those are half tainted, which they pound to meal
to be used in chowder in winter.” (Page 209).*

Kalm (Peter): Travels into North America, etc.; translated by John Reinhold
Forster ; London, 1772.—[New York, October, 1748]. “The Indians, who inhab-
ited the coast before the arrival of the Europeans, have made oysters and other
shell fish their chief food; and at present, whenever they come to a salt water,
where oysters are to be got, they are very active in catching them, and sell them
in great quantities to other Indians, who live higher up the country: for this
reason you see immense numbers of oyster and muscle shells piled up near such
places, where you are certain that the Indians formerly built their huts. This
circumstance ought to make us cautious in maintaining, that in all places on the
sea shore, or higher up in the country, where such heaps of shells are to be met,
the latter have lain there ever since the time that those places were overflowed
by the sea. ——— Among the numerous shells which are found on the sea-
shore, there are some, which by the English here are called Clams, and which
bear some resemblance to the human ear. They have a considerable thickness,
and are chiefly white, excepting the pointed end, which both without and within
has a blue colour, between purple and violet. They are met with in vast num-
bers on the sea shore of Mew York, Long Island, and other places. The shells
contain a large animal, which is eaten both by the Jndians and Europeans settled
here. A considerable commerce is carried on in this article, with such Indians
as live further up the country. When these people inhabited the coast, they

.
“

were able to catch their own clams, which at that time made a great part of their

* The same volume contains translated extracts from John de Laet’s ‘‘Nieuwe Wereldt’’ (Leyden, 1625).
In Book III, Chapter X, this author, in giving Henry Hudson’s account of the great river named after him,
states that the navigator had seen the Indians ‘catching in the river all kinds of fresh-water fish with seines,
and young salmon and sturgeon ” (p. 300). This was in 1609. De Laet unquestionably had Hudson’s journal

before him. It is now lost, or, perhaps, buried in some Dutch archive.

R 36

282 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

food; but at present this is the business of the Dutch and English, who live in
Long Island and other maritime provinces. As soon as the shells are caught,
the fish is taken out of them, drawn upon a wire, and hung up in the open air,
in order to dry by the heat of the sun. When this is done, the flesh is put into
proper vessels, and carried to Albany upon the river Hudson; there the Indians
buy them, and reckon them one of their best dishes. Besides the Europeans,
many of the native Jndians come annually down to the sea shore, in order to
catch clams, proceeding with them afterwards in the manner I have just de-
scribed.” (Vol. I, pages 187, 189, etc.).

[Raccoon, New Jersey, January, 1749]. ‘ When the Jndians intended to
fell a thick strong tree, they could not make use of their hatchets, but for want
of proper instruments, employed fire. They set fire to a great quantity of wood
at the roots of the tree, and made it fall by that means. But that the fire might
not reach higher than they would have it, they fastened some rags to a pole,
dipped them into water, and kept continually washing the tree, a little above the
fire. Whenever they intended to hollow out a thick tree for a canoe, they laid
dry branches all along the stem of the tree, as far as it must be hollowed out.
They then put fire to those dry branches, and, as soon as they were burnt, they
were replaced by others. Whilst these branches were burning, the Jndians were
very busy with wet rags, and pouring water upon the tree, to prevent the fire
from spreading too far on the sides, and at the ends. The tree being burnt
hollow as far as they found it sufficient, or as far as it could, without damaging
the canoe, they took the above described stone-hatchets, or sharp flints, and
quartzes, or sharp shells, and scraped off the burnt part of the wood, and
smoothened the boats within. By this means they likewise gave it what shape
they pleased. ——— A canoe was commonly between thirty and forty feet
long.” (Vol. I, page 340, etc.).*

“The Indians employ hooks made of bone, or bird’s claws, instead of fishing-
hooks. Some of the oldest Swedes here told me, that when they were young, a
ereat number of Jndians had been in this part of the country, which was then
called New Sweden, and had caught fishes in the river Delaware with these hooks.”
(Vol. I, page 345).

Morgan (Lewis H.): League of the Ho-dé-no-sau-nee, or Iroquois ; Rochester,
1851.—“ In the construction of the bark canoe, the Iroquois exercised consider-
able taste and skill. The art appears to have been common to all the Indian
races within the limits of the republic, and the mode of construction much the

* Professor Kalm deseribes very minutely (Vol. II, p. 129-33) the manufacture of a white-elm bark canoe,
witnessed by him at Fort Ann, New York. The canoe was made according to Indian rules, though by whites.
I insert the shorter account of Iroquois canoe-making given by Mr. Lewis H. Morgan, and relating to a special
one which he figures.

EXTRACTS. 283

same. Birch bark was the best material; but as the canoe birch did not grow
within the home territories of the Iroquois, they generally used the red-elm and
bitter-nut-hickory. The canoe figured in the plate is made of the bark of the
red-elm, and consists of but one piece. Having taken off a bark of the requisite
length and width, and removed the rough outside, it was shaped in the canoe
form. Rim pieces of white-ash, or other elastic wood, of the width of the hand,
were then run around the edge, outside and in, and stitched through and through
with the bark itself. In stitching, they used bark thread or twine, and splints.
The ribs consisted of narrow strips of ash, which were set about a foot apart
along the bottom of the canoe, and having been turned up the sides, were secured
under the rim. Each end of the canoe was fashioned alike, the two side pieces
inclining towards each other until they united, and formed a sharp and vertical
prow. In size, these canoes varied from twelve feet, with sufficient capacity to
carry two men, to forty feet with sufficient capacity for thirty. The one figured
in the plate is about twenty-five feet in length, and its tonnage estimated at two
tons, about half that of the ordinary .bateau. Birch bark retained its place
without warping, but the elm and hickory bark canoes were exposed to this ob-
jection. After being used, they were drawn out of the water to dry.
For short excursions one person usually paddled the canoe, standing up in the
stern; if more than two, and on a long expedition, they were seated at equal dis-
tances upon each side alternately. In the fur trade these canoes were extensively
used. They coasted lakes Erie and Ontario, and turning up the Oswego river into
the Oneida lake, they went from thence over the carrying place into the Mohawk,
which they descended to Schenectady. They would usually carry about twelve
hundred pounds of fur. At the period of the invasions of the Iroquois terri-
tories by the French, large fleets of these canoes were formed for the conveyance
of troops and provisions. With careful usage they would last several years.”
(Page 367, etc.).

Loskiel (George Henry): History of the Mission of the United Brethren among
the Indians in North America; translated from the German by Christian Ignatius
La Trobe; London, 1794.—[Delawares and Iroquois]. ‘Little boys are even
frequently seen wading in shallow brooks, shooting small fishes with their bows
and arrows. The Indians always carry hooks and small harpoons with them,
whenever they are on a hunting party; but at certain seasons of the year they
go out purposely to fish, either alone, or in parties. They make use of the neat
and light canoes made of birch-bark, as described above, for this purpose, and
not only venture with them into spacious rivers, but even into the large lakes,
and being very light, the waves do not break into them as easily as into European
boats. They caulk them with the resinous bark of a species of elm, which they
first pound, to prepare it for use. Another kind of canoes are made of the stems

284. PREHISTORIC FISHING.

of large trees of light wood, chiefly cypress. These stems are excavated chiefly
by fire, and finished with an hatchet. They look like long troughs, and are of
various sizes.

“There is a particular manner of fishing,* which is undertaken in parties,
as many hands are wanted, in the following manner: When the Shad-fish (clupea
alosa) come up the rivers, the Indians run a dam of stones across the stream,
where its depth will admit of it, not in a strait line, but in two parts, verging
towards each other in an angle. An opening is left in the middle for the water
to run off. At this opening they place a large box, the bottom of which is full
of holes. They then make a rope of the twigs of the wild vine, reaching across
the stream, upon which boughs of about six feet in length are fastened at the
distance of about two fathoms from each other. A party is detached about a
mile above the dam with this rope and its appendages, who begin to move gently
down the current, some guiding one, some the opposite end, whilst others keep
the branches from sinking by supporting the rope in the middle with wooden
forks. Thus they proceed, frightening the fishes into the opening left in the
middle of the dam, where a number of Indians are placed on each side, who
standing upon the two legs of the angles, drive the fishes with poles, and an
hideous noise, through the opening into the above-mentioned box or chest.
Here they lie, the water running off through the holes in the bottom, and
other Indians stationed on each side of the chest, take them out, kill them
and fill their canoes. By this contrivance they sometimes catch above a thou-
sand shad and other fish in half a day.

‘In Carolina the Indians frequently use fire in fishing. A certain kind of
fish will even leap into the boats, which have fire in them.” (Part I, page 94, ete.).

De Bry (Theodorus): Admiranda Narratio fida tamen, de Commodis et Inco-
larum kitibus Virginie, ete., Francoforti ad Moenum, 1590.—Translation: [XIII.
The mode of fishing among the inhabitants of Virginia]. ‘They have also a
remarkable method of fishing in the rivers: for, since they lack iron and steel,
they fasten as a point on canes or long staffs the hollow tail of a certain fish
resembling the sea-crab ;+ with these they transfix fishes in the night or during
day-time, and bring them together in their boats: yet they also know how to
use the spines and stings of other fishes. They likewise, by fixing sticks or rods
in the water, construct wicker-work, which they entwine in such a manner as to
make it gradually narrower, as the figure shows. There is never beheld among
us such an excellent mode of catching fish, of which various kinds, differing from
ours, yet of very good taste, are here found in the rivers.”

* Buschnetzfischerey (bush-net fishing) in the German original, which was published at Barby in 1789.

+ The king-crab or horse-shoe (Limulus Polyphemus, Latr.).

{ [ XIII. Incolarum Virginiw piscandi ratio]. ‘ Egregiam etiam habent piscandi in fluminibus rationem :
cum enim ferro & chalybe careant, arundinibus aut oblongis virgis piscis cuiusdam cancro marino similis caudam

EXTRACTS. 285

Fia. 363.— Methods of fishing practised by the Virginia Indians.
After De Bry.*

[XIV. Wooden hurdle on which they roast fishes]. ‘After a capture of
plenty of fish, they proceed to the chosen place suitable for the preparation of
victuals: having here fixed in the ground four forks marking a quadrangular
space, they put on them four sticks, and across these others, thus forming a
hurdle of sufficient height. When the fish have been placed upon the hurdle,
they build a fire underneath it, in order to roast them; yet not according to the
manner of the inhabitants of the Province of Florida, who only parch and harden
them in the smoke that they may be kept during the whole winter; while these,
laying by no store, roast and consume the whole; afterward, when needed, they
roast or seethe fresh ones, as we shall see hereafter. In the meantime, when the
hurdle cannot hold all the fishes, they suspend the remaining ones by the gills
on little rods which they have stuck in the ground near the fire, and thus cook
them: they also pay close attention that they are not burned. When the first

concauam pro cuspide imponunt, quibus noctu vel interdiu pisces figunt, & in suas cymbas congerunt: sed aliorum
piscium spinis & spiculis vti norunt. Baculis etiam seu virgultis (sic) in aquam defixis tegetes conficiunt, quas
intertexentes in angustum semper contrahunt, vt ex figura apparet. nunquam apud nos conspecta est tam subtilis
pisces capiendi ratio, quorum varia genera istic in fluminibus reperiuntur, nostris dissimilia, & boni admodum
succi.”’

* This design and the two following next are not taken directly from De Bry’s volume, but from Beverly’s
“History of Virginia,” which is illustrated with inverted, reduced, and here and there modified copies of De Bry’s
plates. I had some of Beverly’s deviations corrected in accordance with the original engravings.

286 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

are roasted, they place fresh supplies on the hurdle, and repeat the cooking until
they think they have a sufficiency of eatables.’*

weit

re :
z — 4, = oo
Lit 0 LL Ene

Fic. 364.— Virginia Indians smoking fish.
After De Bry.

[XII. The mode of making boats]. “The mode of manufacturing boats
in Virginia is wonderful; for though they have neither iron implements nor
others resembling ours, they nevertheless know how to make them not less con-
venient than our own, either for navigating rivers or for fishing. Having first
selected a thick and high tree, corresponding to the size of the boat they intend
to make, they light on the surface of the ground close to its roots, and all around
it, a fire, using well-dried tree-moss, and rousing the fire gradually by means
of chips of wood, lest the flame might ascend too high and diminish the length
of the tree. When the tree is nearly burned and threatens to fall, they light a
new fire, which they allow to burn until the tree comes down by itself. Having
then burned away the top and the branches of the tree, in order to give the
trunk the proper length, they deposit it on stems laid across forks, at a height

* (XIV. Crates lignea in qua pisces vstulant]. ‘*Capta piscium abundantia, ad locum destinatum concedunt
cibis parandis idoneum: illic defixis in terram quatuor furcis quadrangula area, quatuor ligna imponunt, atque
his alia transuersa, cratis satis alte instar. Crati piscibus impositis ignem substruunt, vt assentur, non incolarum
Floridx prouinciw more, qui dumtaxat vstulant & fumo indurant, vt tota hieme adseruare possint: nam hi nihil
seponentes omnia assant & absumunt, deinde cum opus habent, recentes assant aut elixant, vt postea videbimus.
Cum vero cratis interdum omnes pisces capere nequeat, reliquos bacillis in terram apud ignem defixis per branchias
appendunt, hac ratione cocturam absoluentes: diligenter autem obseruant ne adurantur. Primis assatis, alios
recens allatos crati imponunt, subinde cocturam repetentes donec satis eduliorum se habere existiment.””

EXTRACTS. : 287

convenient for their work; they now remove the bark with a certain kind of
shells, and, using the less injured part of the trunk for its lower side, they light
on the other side a fire all along the trunk, excepting its ends, and when they
think that there has been enough burning, they extinguish the fire and commence
scraping with shells; having made a new fire, they burn again, and thus con-
tinue in succession, alternately burning and scraping, until the boat is sufficiently
hollowed out.’*

= <a
ee
Sr

Fig. 865.—Virginia Indians engaged in boat-making.
After De Bry.

Smith (Captain John): The General Historie of Virginia, New-England, and
the Summer Isles, etc. ; London, 1624.—[Indians of Virginia]. “ Their fishing is
much in Boats. These they make of one tree by burning and scratching away
the coales with stones and shels, till they haue made it in forme of a Trough.
Some of them are an elne deepe, and fortie or fiftie foote in length, and some

* [XTI. Lintrium conficiendorum ratio]. ‘ Mira est in Virginia cymbas fabricandi ratio: nam cum ferreis
instrumentis aut aliis nostris similibus careant, eas tamen parare norunt nostris non minus commodas ad nauigan-
dum quo lubet per flumina & ad piscandum, Primum arbore aliqua crassa & alta delecta, pro cymbe quam parare
volunt magnitudine, ignem circa eius radices summa tellure in ambitu struunt ex arborum musco bene resiccato,
& ligni assulis paulatim ignem excitantes, ne flamma altius ascendat, & arboris longitudinem minuat. Pene adusta
& ruinam minante arbore, nouum suscitant ignem, quem flagrare sinunt donec arbor sponte cadat. Adustis deinde
arboris fastigio & ramis, vt truncus iustam longitudinem retineat, tignis transuersis supra furcas positis imponunt,
en altitudine vt commode laborare possint, tune cortice conchis quibusdam adempto, integriorem trunci partem
pro cymbz inferiore parte seruant, in altera parte ignem secundum trunci longitudinem struunt, preterquam
extremis, quod satis adustum illis videtur, restincto igne conchis scabunt, & nouo suscitato igne denuo adurunt,
atque ita deinceps pergunt, subinde urentes & scabentes, donec cymba necessarium alueum nacta sit.”’

288 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

will beare 40 men, but the most ordinary are smaller, and will beare 10, 20, or
30, according to their bignesse. In stead of Oares, they vse Paddles and stickes,
with which they will row faster than our Barges. Betwixt their hands and
thighes, their women vse to spin, the barkes of trees, Deere sinews, or a kinde of
grasse they call Pemmenaw, of these they make a thread very even and readily.
This thread serveth for many vses. As about their housing, apparell, as also
they make nets for fishing, for the quantitie as formally braded as ours. They
make also with it lines for angles. Their hookes are either a bone grated as
they noch their arrowes in the forme of a crooked pinne or fish-hooke, or of the
splinter of a bone tyed to the clift of a little sticke, and with the end of the line,
they tie on the bait. They vse also long arrowes tyed in a line, wherewith they
shoote at fish in the rivers. But they of Accawmack vse staues like vnto Iaue-
lins headed with bone. With these they dart fish swimming in the water. They
haue also many artificiall wires, in which they get abundance of fish.” (Page
31, etc.).

(Beverly [Robert]): The History of Virginia, in Four Parts ; London, 1722.—
“Before the Arrival of the English there, the Indians had Fish in such vast
Plenty, that the Boys and Girls would take a pointed Stick, and strike the lesser
sort, as they swam upon the Flats. The larger Fish, that kept in deeper Water,
they were put to a little more Difficulty to take; But for these they made Weirs ;
that is, a Hedge of small riv’d Sticks, or Reeds, of the Thickness of a Man’s
Finger, these they wove together in a Row, with Straps of Green Oak, or other
tough Wood, so close that the small Fish cou’d not pass through. Upon High-
Water Mark, they pitched one End of this Hedge, and the other they extended
into the River, to the Depth of eight or ten Foot, fastening it with Stakes,
making Cods out from the Hedge on one side, almost at the End, and leaving a
Gap for the Fish to go into them, which were contrived so, that the Fish could
easily find their Passage into those Cods, when they were at the Gap, but not
see their Way out again, when they were in: Thus if they offered to pass through,
they were taken.

‘Sometimes they made such a Hedge as this, quite across a Creek at High-
Water, and at Low would go into the Run, then contracted into a narrow Stream,
and take out what Fish they pleased.

“At the Falls of the Rivers, where the Water is shallow, and the Current
strong, the Jndians use another kind of Weir, thus made: They make a Dam of
loose Stone, whereof there is Plenty at hand, quite a-cross the River, leaving
one, two, or more Spaces or Trunnels, for the Water to pass thro’; at the Mouth
of which they set a Pot of Reeds, wove in Form of a Cone, whose Base is about *
three Foot, and perpendicular ten, into which the Swiftness of the Current
carries the Fish, and there lodges them.

EXTRACTS. 289

“The Indian Way of catching Sturgeon, when they came into the narrow
part of the Rivers, was by a Man’s clapping a Noose over their Tail, and by
keeping fast his Hold. Thus a fish finding itself entangled, would flounce, and
often pull the Man under Water, and then that Man was counted a Cockarouse,
or brave Fellow, that would not let go; till with Swimming, Wading and Div-
ing, he had tired the Sturgeon, and brought it ashore. These Sturgeons would
also often leap into their Canoes, in crossing the River, as many of them do still
every year, into the Boats of the English.

‘They have also another Way of Fishing like those on the Euvine Sea, by
the Help of a blazing Fire by Night. They make a Hearth in the Middle of
their Canoe, raising it within two Inches of the Edge; upon this they lay their
burning Light-Wood, split into small Shivers, each Splinter whereof will blaze
and burn End for End, like a Candle: ’Tis one Man’s Work to attend this Fire
and keep it flaming. At each end of the Canoe stands an Indian, with a Gig, or
pointed Spear, setting the Canoe forward with the Butt-end of the Spear, as
gently as he can, by that Means stealing upon the Fish, without any Noise, or
disturbing of the water. Then they with great Dexterity dart these Spears into
the Fish, and so take them. Now there is a double Convenience in the Blaze of
this Fire; for it not only dazzles the Eyes of the Fish, which will lie still, glar-
ing upon it, but likewise discovers the Bottom of the River clearly to the Fisher-
man, which the Day-light does not.” (Page 130, etc.).

Lawson (John): The History of Carolina ; London, 1714.—[Indians of North
Carolina]. ‘They are not only good Hunters of the wild Beasts and Game of
the Forest, but very expert in taking the Fish of the Rivers and Waters near
which they inhabit, and are acquainted withal. Thus they that live a great way
up the Rivers practise Striking Sturgeon and Rock-fish, or Bass, when they
come up the Rivers to spawn; besides the vast Shoals of Sturgeon which they
kill and take with Snares, as we do Pike in Europe. The Herrings in March
and April run a great way up the Rivers and fresh Streams to spawn, where the
Savages make great Wares, with Hedges that hinder their Passage only in the
Middle, where an artificial Pound is made to take them in; so that they cannot
return. This Method is in use all over the fresh Streams, to catch Trout and
the other Species of Fish which those Parts afford. Their taking of Craw-fish
is so pleasant, that I cannot pass it by without mention. When they have a
mind to get these Shell-fish, they take a Piece of Venison, and half-barbakue or
roast it; then they cut it into thin Slices, which Slices they stick through with
Reeds about six Inches asunder, betwixt Piece and Piece; then the Reeds are
made sharp at one end; and so they stick a great many of them down in the
bottom of the Water (thus baited) in the small Brooks and Runs, which the
Craw-fish frequent. Thus the Jndians sit by, and tend those baited sticks, every

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290 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

now and then taking them up, to see how many are at the Bait; where they
generally find abundance; so take them off, and put them in a Basket for the
purpose, and stick the Reeds down again. By this Method, they will, in a little
time, catch several Bushels, which are as good, as any I ever eat. Those Indians
that frequent the Salt-Waters, take abundance of Fish, some very large, and of
several sorts, which to preserve, they first barbakue, then pull the Fish to Pieces,
so dry it in the Sun, whereby it keeps for Transportation ; as for Scate, Oysters,
Cockles, and several sorts of Shell-fish, they open and dry them upon Hurdles,
having a constant Fire under them. The Hurdles are made of Reeds or Canes
in the shape of a Gridiron. Thus they dry several Bushels of these Fish, and
keep them for their Necessities. At the time when they are on the Salts, and
Sea Coasts, they have another Fishery, that is for a little Shell-fish, which those
in England call Blackmoors Teeth. These they catch by tying bits of Oysters
to a long String, which they lay in such places, as, they know, those Shell-fish
haunt. These Fish get hold of the Oysters, and suck them in, so that they pull
up those long Strings, and take great Quantities of them, which they carry a
great way into the main Land, to trade with the remote Indians, where they are
of great Value; but never near the Sea, by reason they are common, therefore
not esteem’d. Besides, the Youth and Indian Boys go in the Night, and one
holding a Lightwood Torch, the other has a Bow and Arrows, and the Fire
directing him to see the Fish, he shoots them with the Arrows; and thus they
kill a great many of the smaller Fry and sometimes pretty large ones. It is an
establish’d Custom amongst all these Natives, that the young Hunter never eats
of that Buck, Bear, Fish, or any other Game, which happens to be the first they
kill of that sort; because they believe, if he should eat thereof, he would never
after be fortunate in Hunting. The like foolish Ceremony they hold, when they
have made a Ware to take Fish withal; if a big-belly’d Woman eat of the first
Dish that is caught in it, they say that Ware will never take much Fish; and
as for killing of Snakes, they avoid it, if they lie in their way, because their
Opinion is, that some of the Serpents Kindred would kill some of the Savages
Relations, that should destroy him.” (Page 209, etc.).

Brickell (John): The Natural History of North Carolina; Dublin, 1787.—
[Indians of North Carolina]. “They have Fish-gigs that are made of Reeds or
Hollow Canes, these they cut and make very sharp, with two Beards, and taper
at the Point like a Harpoon; being thus provided, they either wade into the
Water, or go into their Canoes, and paddle about the Edges of the Rivers or
Creeks, striking all the Fish they meet with in the depth of five or six Feet
Water, or as far as they can see them; this they commonly do in dark calm
Nights, and whilst one attends with a Light made of the Pitch-pine, the other
with his Mish-gig strikes and kills the Fish: It is diverting to see them fish after

EXTRACTS. 291

this manner, which they sometimes do in the Day; how dexterous they are in
striking, is admirable, and the great quantities they kill by this Method.”
(Page 365).*

Adair (James): The History of the American Indians; particularly those
Nations adjoining the Mississippi, East and West Florida, Georgia, South and
North Carolina, and Virginia, ete.; London, 1775.— Their method of fishing may
be placed among their diversions, but this is of the profitable kind. When they
see large fish near the surface of the water, they fire directly upon them, some-
times only with powder, which noise and surprize however so stupifies them,
that they instantly turn up their bellies and float a top, when the fisherman
secures them. If they shoot at fish not deep in the water, either with an arrow
or bullet, they aim at the lower part of the belly, if they are near; and lower,
in like manner, according to the distance, which seldom fails of killing. Ina
dry summer season, they gather horse chesnuts, and different sorts of roots,
which having pounded pretty fine, and steeped a while in a trough, they scatter
this mixture over the surface of a middle-sized pond, and stir it about with poles,
till the water is sufficiently impregnated with the intoxicating bittern. The fish
are soon inebriated, and make to the surface of the water, with their bellies
uppermost. The fishers gather them in baskets, and barbicue the largest, cover-
ing them carefully over at night to preserve them from the supposed putrifying
influence of the moon. It seems, that fish catched in this manner, are not
poisoned, but only stupified ; for they prove very wholesome food to us, who fre-
quently use them. By experiments, when they are speedily moved into good
water, they revive in a few minutes.

“The Indians have the art of catching fish in long crails, made with canes
and hiccory splinters, tapering to a point. They lay these at a fall of water,
where stones are placed in two sloping lines from each bank, till they meet
together in the middle of the rapid stream, where the entangled fish are soon
drowned. Above such a place, I have known them to fasten a wreath of long
erape vines together, to reach across the river, with stones fastened at proper
distances to rake the bottom; they will swim a mile with it whooping, and
plunging all the way, driving the fish before them into their large cane pots.
With this draught, which is a very heavy one, they make a town feast, or feast
of love, of which every one partakes in the most social manner, and afterward
they dance together, singing Halelu-yah, and the rest of their usual praises to
the divine essence, for his bountiful gifts to the beloved people. Those Indians
who are unacquainted with the use of barbed irons, are very expert in striking
large fish out of their canoes, with long sharp pointed green canes, which are

* The remainder of Brickell’s account of Indian fishing in North Carolina is almost literally taken from

Lawson’s ‘‘ History of Carolina.”’

292 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

well bearded, and hardened in the fire. In Savanah river, I have often accom-
panied them in killing sturgeons with those green swamp harpoons, and which
they did with much pleasure and ease; for, when we discovered the fish, we soon
thrust into their bodies one of the harpoons. As the fish would immediately
strike deep, and rush away to the bottom very rapidly, their strength was soon
expended, by their violent struggles against the buoyant force of the green darts:
as soon as the top end of them appeared again on the surface of the water, we
made up to them, renewed the attack, and in like manner continued it till we
secured our game.*

“They have a surprising method of fishing under the edges of rocks, that
stand over deep places of ariver. There, they pull off their red breeches, or
their long slp of Stroud cloth, and wrapping it round their arm, so as to reach
to the lower part of the palm of their right hand, they dive under the rock
where the large cat-fish lie to shelter themselves from the scorching beams of
the sun, and to watch for prey: as soon as those fierce aquatic animals see that
tempting bait, they immediately seize it with the greatest violence, in order to
swallow it. Then is the time for the diver to improve the favourable oppor-
tunity: he accordingly opens his hand, seizes the voracious fish by his tender
parts, hath a sharp struggle with it against the crevices of the rock, and at last
brings it safe ashore. Except the Choktah, all our Indians, both male and
female, above the state of infancy, are in the watery element nearly equal to
amphibious animals, by practice: and from the experiments necessity has forced
them to, it seems as if few were endued with such strong natural abilities,—very
few can equal them in their wild situation of life.

“There is a favourite method among them of fishing with hand-nets. The
nets are about three feet deep, and of the same diameter at the opening, made
of hemp, and knotted after the usual manner of our nets. On each side of the
mouth, they tie very securely a strong elastic green cane, to which the ends are
fastened. Prepared with these, the warriors a-breast, jump in at the end of a
long pond, swimming under water, with their net stretched open with both hands,
and the canes ina horizontal position. In this manner, they will continue, either
till their breath is expended by the want of respiration, or till the net is so pon-
derous as to force them to exonerate it ashore, or in a basket, fixt in a proper
place for that purpose—by removing one hand, the canes instantly spring
together. I have been engaged half a day at a time, with the old-friendly Chik-
kasah, and half drowned in the diversion—when any of us was so unfortunate

* Bartram describes the capture of a salmon trout of fifteen pounds’ weight in a branch of Broad River,
Georgia, by means of one of these harpoons :—

“The Indian struck this fish, with a reed harpoon, pointed very sharp, barbed, and hardened by the fire.
The fish lay close under the steep bank, which the Indian discovered and struck with his reed; instantly the fish
darted off with it, whilst the Indian pursued, without extracting the harpoon, and with repeated thrusts drowned
it, and then dragged it to shore.”’—T'vravels through South Carolina, Georgia, etc.; Dublin, 1793; p. 44.

EXTRACTS. 293

as to catch water-snakes in our sweep, and emptied them ashore, we had the
ranting voice of our friendly posse comitatus, whooping against us, till another
party was so unlucky as to meet with the like misfortune. During this exercise,
the women are fishing ashore with coarse baskets, to catch the fish that escape
our nets. At the end of our friendly diversion, we cheerfully return home, and
in an innocent and friendly manner, eat together, studiously diverting each other,
on the incidents of the day, and make a cheerful night.” (Page 402, etc.).

Du Pratz (M. Le Page): Histoire de la Louisiane ; Paris, 1758—Transla-
tion: ‘Those who lived near rivers doubtless became desirous of eating fish,
and tried to avail themselves of the victuals which the country offered. For the
rest, it was only needed that a pregnant woman, having seen fine fishes, hankered
after them: the complaisance of the husband on one hand, and his own inclina-
tion to eat them on the other, gave occasion for the manufacture of nets for
catching fish.* These nets have meshes (son¢ maillés) like ours, and are made of
the bark of the linden-tree. Large fish are shot with arrows.

“The nets usually serve for catching small fish; the natives also make use
of them as bags for transporting fish. However, when they have many fishes,
or have caught large ones with the line, they construct on the spot a make-shift
for carrying them one or two leagues, or even farther, if required. For this
purpose they take a green branch of pliable wood, an inch and a half in thick-
ness, and bend it until both ends meet and it assumes the form of a racket
on a large scale. Across this wood they stretch several strips of bark cross-
wise, and cover them with plenty of leaves, upon which they place the fish,
covering them in the same manner. When the leaves and fishes are firmly tied
to the frame, they attach their burden-strap to it, and carry it on the back like
a basket.” (Vol. II, page 179, etc.).

“They sometimes make arrows of thin, hard canes; but these only serve
for shooting birds and fishes. — — —

“Their war-arrows are usually armed with a scale of the bony gar-fish
(Poisson-armé); but if their arrows are designed for shooting carp or cat-fish
(Barbue), which are large fishes, they attach to the shaft a bone pointed at both
ends, in such a manner that one end forms the point of the arrow, while the
other is a little distant from the shaft, and prevents the arrow from coming
out of the body of the fish.+ The arrow, moreover, is connected by a string with
a piece of wood, which floats and does not allow the fish to go to the bottom or

to escape.” (Vol. II, page 168).

* Polite attention to women probably had little to do with the invention of fishing-nets, wherever it was
made. Nets came into use, when populations increased, and the methods of spearing and angling proved in-
sufficient for furnishing the necesssry supplies of fish-food. Hunger, not gallantry, invented nets.

+ Compare Fig, 43 on p, 47 in this volume.

294. PREHISTORIC FISHING.

“A pirogue is a trunk of a tree, more or less large, and hollowed out like a
boat. Those of the natives will hold from two to ten persons. Before.they knew
the use of axes, which they have received from the French, they excavated them
by means of fire, taking care to cover with mortar such portions as they wished
to leave intact.” (Vol. I, page 107, note).

Wyeth (Nathaniel J.): Letters addressed in 1848 to H. R. Schoolcraft, and
published in his large work on “ the History, Condition, and Prospects of the Indian
Tribes of the United States ;” Vol. I, Philadelphia, I851.—[Shoshonees]. ‘The
utensils originally used by the Indians of the valley of the Saaptin or Snake
River, were wholly of stone, clay, bone or wood. So far as I observed, they
possessed no metals. Their implements were the pot, bow and arrow, knives,
graining tools, awls, root-diggers, fish-spears, nets, a kind of boat or raft, the
pipe, mats for shelter, and implements to produce fire. — — —

“The fish-spear is a beautiful adaptation of an idea to a purpose. The head
of it is of bone, to which a small strong line is attached near the middle, con-
necting it with the shaft, about two feet from the point. Somewhat toward the
forward end of this head there is a small hole, which enters it ranging acutely
toward the point of the head; it is quite shallow. In this hole the front end of
the shaft is placed. This head is about two and a half inches long, the shaft
about ten feet, and of light willow. When a salmon or sturgeon is struck, the
head is at once detached by the withdrawal of the shaft, and being constrained
by the string, which still connects it with the operator, turns its position to one
crosswise of its direction while entering. If the fish is strong, the staff is relin-
quished, and operates as a buoy to obtain the fish when he has tired down by
struggling. These Indians are very expert in the use of this instrument, and
take many fish at all the falls and rapid waters, and construct, on small streams,
barriers of stones or brush, to force the fish into certain places, where they watch
for them, often at night with a light.

‘“‘Fish-nets are made with the outer bark of some weed which grows in the
country, but I took no particular note of what it was, or how separated from the
stalk. It makes a line stronger than any of those I had among my outfit,
although they were selected from the best materials of an angling’ warehouse by
myself, who profess to be a judge of such articles. The twine is formed by lay-
ing the fibre doubled across the knee, the bight towards to left, and held between
the thumb and finger of that hand, with the two parts which are to form the twine
toward the right and a little separated; rolling these two parts between the knee
and right hand, outwardly from the operator, and twisting the bight between the
thumb and finger of the left hand, forms the thread. More fibre is added as
that first commenced on diminishes in size, so as to make a continuous and equal
line. In this way, excellent twine is made much more rapidly than could be

EXTRACTS. 295

expected. The nets are of two kinds: the scoop, which is precisely the same as
is used in the United States; and the seine, which is also in principle exactly the
same; and the knot used in netting also appears to me exactly the same: but in
this I may be mistaken, as I have never seen the operation performed. The
leaded line is formed by attaching oblong rounded stones, with a sunken groove
near the middle in which to wind the attaching ligature. Reeds are used for floats.

“The navigation of this region appears to have been confined to crossing the
streams when the water was too cold for comfortable swimming. The only
apparatus used was little more than a good raft, made of reeds which abound
on many of the streams. They are about eight feet long, and formed by placing
small bundles of reeds, with the butt-ends introduced and lashed together, with
their small ends outwards. Several of these bundles are lashed together beside
each other, and in such a manner as to form a cavity on top. There is no attempt
to make it tight; the only dependence is on the great buoyancy of the materials
used. It is navigated with a stick, and almost entirely by pushing. This rude
form of navigation, apparently, is the only one ever used in the country, in which,
in fact, there is hardly timber enough for a more improved form.” (Pages 211,

213, etc.).

Catlin (George): Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs, and Condition of
the North American Indians ; New York, I844.—“‘ The skin canoes of the Man-

A
24

Fic. 367.

Fies. 366 and 367.—Bull-hide boat and paddle of poplar wood, made by Minnetarees at Fort Berth-
old, Dakota. (9785).*

* This boat, measuring in its present shrunken state five feet and four inches in diameter and two feet in
depth, was sent to the National Museum in 1870 by Dr. Washington Matthews, U.S. A. It is made of buffalo-
skin ; but he informs me that the Indians are now beginning to employ ox-hide, owing to the increasing scarcity
of buffalo.

296 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

dans (of the Upper Missouri) are made almost round like a tub, by straining a
buffalo’s skin over a frame of wicker work, made of willow or other boughs.
The woman in paddling these awkward tubs, stands in the bow, and makes the
stroke with the paddle by reaching it forward in the water and drawing it to her,
by which means she pulls the canoe along with some considerable speed. These
very curious and rudely constructed canoes are made in the form of the Welsh
coracle ; and, if I mistake not, propelled in the same manner, which is a very
curious circumstance; inasmuch as they are found in the heart of the great wil-
derness of America, when all other surrounding tribes construct their canoes in
decidedly different forms, and of different materials.” (Vol. II, page 138).*

Powers (Stephen): Tribes of California; Contributions to North American
Ethnology; Vol. III, Washington, 1877.—[The Yurok; Klamath River]. ‘As
the redwood grows only along the Lower Klamath, the Yurok have a monopoly
of making canoes, and they sell many to the Karok. A canoe on the Klamath
is not pointed like the Chippewa canoe, but the width at either end is equal to
the tree’s diameter. On the great bar across the mouth of the river, and all
along the coast for eighty miles, there are tens of thousands of mighty redwoods
cast upon the strand, having been either floated down by the rivers or grubbed
down by the surf. Hence the Indians are not obliged to fell any trees, and have
only to burn them into suitable lengths. In making the canoe they spread pitch
on whatever place they wish to reduce, and when it has burned deep enough they
clap on a piece of raw bark and extinguish the fire. By this means they round
them out with wonderful symmetry and elegance, leaving the sides and ends
very thin and as smooth as if they had been sandpapered. At the stern they
burn and polish out a neat little bracket which serves as a seat for the boatman.
They spent an infinity of puddering on these canoes (nowadays they use iron
tools and dispatch the work in a few days), two Indians sometimes working on
one five or six months, burning, scraping, polishing with stones. When com-
pleted, they are sold for various sums, ranging from ten to thirty dollars, or even
more. They are not as handsome as the Smith River or the T’sin-wk canoes, but
quite as serviceable. A large one will carry five tons of merchandise, and in
early days they used to take many cargoes of fish from the Klamath, shooting
the dangerous rapids and surf at the mouth with consummate skill, going boldly
to sea in heavy weather, and reaching Crescent City, twenty-two miles distant,
whence they returned with merchandise. — — —

“Tn catching salmon they employ principally nets woven of fine roots or
grass, which are stretched across eddies in the Klamath, always with the mouth

* These tub-shaped boats are also used to some extent by the Aricaras and Minnetarees. Mr. Catlin, it is well
known, inclines to the view that the Mandans are partly descendants of the Welsh of Prince Madoc’s expedition.
The Welsh coracles and Mandan boats, at any rate, remind one of the curious circular skin-covered boats in use
on the river Euphrates in the time of Herodotus (I, 194). Some of these latter, however, were of large size.

EXTRACTS. 297

down-stream. When there is not a natural eddy they sometimes create one by
throwing out a rude wing-dam. They select eddies because it is there the salmon
congregate to rest themselves. At the head of the eddy they erect fishing-booths
over the water, by planting slender poles in the bottom of the river, and lashing
others over them in a light and artistic framework, with a floor a few feet above
the water, and regular rafters overhead, on which brushwood is spread for a
screen against the sun. In one of these really picturesque booths an Indian
sleeps at night, with a string leading up from the net to his fingers, so that when
a salmon begins to flounce in it he is awakened. Sometimes the string is attached
to an ingenious rattle-trap of sticks or bones (or a bell nowadays), which will
ring or clatter, and answer the same purpose.

‘“'They also spear salmon from these booths with a fish-gig furnished with
movable barbs, which after entering the fish spread open, and prevent the with-
drawal of the instrument. Another mode they sometimes employ is to stand on
a large bowlder in the main current where the salmon and the little skeggers
shoot in to rest in the eddy when ascending the stream, whereupon they scoop
them up in dip-nets. Again they construct a weir of willow-stakes nearly across
the stream at the shallows, leaving only a narrow chute wherein is set a funnel-
shaped trap of splints, with a funnel-shaped entrance at the large end. Ascend-
ing the stream the bold, resolute salmon shoots into this, and cannot get out.
Sometimes the weir reaches clear across, the stakes being fastened to a long
string-piece stretching from bank to bank. The building of one of these dams
is usually preceded by a grand dance, and followed by a feast of salmon. The
greater portion of the catch is dried and smoked for winter consumption. — — —

‘“‘Along the coast they engage largely in smelt-fishing. The fisherman takes
two long slender poles which he frames together with a cross-piece in the shape
of the letter A, and across this he stretches a net with small meshes, bagging
down considerably. This net he connects by a throat with a long bag-net floating
in the water behind him, and then, provided with a strong staff, he wades out
up to his middle. When an unusually heavy billow surges in he plants his staff
firmly on the bottom, ducks his head forward, and allows it to boom over him.
After each wave he dips with his net and hoists it up, whereupon the smelt slide
down to the point and through the throat into the bag-net. When the latter
contains a bushel or so he wades ashore and empties it into his squaw’s basket.

“About sunset appears to be the most favorable time for smelt-fishing, and
at this time the great bar across the mouth of the Klamath presents a lively and
interesting spectacle. Sometimes many scores of swarthy heads may be seen
bobbing amid the surf like so many sea-lions. The squaws hurry to and fro
across the bar, bowing themselves under their great conical hampers, carrying
the smelt back to the canoes in the river, while the pappooses caper around
stark naked, whoop, throw up their heels, and playfully insinuate pebbles into

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298 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

each other’s ears. After the great copper globe of the sun burns into the ocean,
bivouae fires spring up along the sand among the enormous redwood drift-logs,
and families hover around them to roast the evening repast. The squaws bustle
about the fires while the weary smelt-fishermen, in their nude and savage
strength, are grouped together squatting or leaning about, with their smooth,
dark, clean-moulded limbs in statuesque attitudes of repose. Dozens of canoes
laden with bushels on bushels of the little silver fishes, shove off and move
silently away up the darkling river.” (Page 47, ete.).

[The Henaggi; Smith River]. “The Henaggi deserve special mention on
account of the handsome canoes which they fashion out of redwood. I saw one
on Humboldt Bay, which had been launched by them on Smith River, and which
had therefore demonstrated its sea-worthiness by a voyage of over a hundred
miles. It was forty-two feet long and eight feet four inches wide, and capable
of carrying twenty-four men or five tons of freight. It was ‘a thing of beauty,’
sitting plumb and lightly on the sea, smoothly polished, and so symmetrical that
a pound’s weight on either side would throw it slightly out of trim. Twenty-four
tall, swarthy boatmen, naked except around the loins, standing erect in it, as
their habit is, and with their narrow paddles measuring off the blue waters with
long, even sweeps, must have been a fine spectacle.” (Page 69).

[The Viard or Wiyot; Humboldt Bay, Eel River]. “Like all coast tribes
the Viard depended largely on fishing for a subsistence, and the lower waters of
Eel River yielded them a wonderful amount of rich and oleaginous eels. To
capture these they constructed a funnel-shaped trap of splints, with a funnel-
shaped entrance at the large end, through which the creature could wriggle, but
which closed on him and detained him inside. Traps of this kind they weighted
down so that they floated mostly below the surface of the water, and then tied
them to stakes planted in the river bottom. Thus they turned about with the
swash of the tide, keeping the large ends always against the current, that the
eels might slip in readily.” (Page 103).

[The Wailakki; western slope of the Shasta Mountains]. ‘In the hot and
sweltering interior of the State the Indians generally leave their warm winter
lodges as soon as the dry season is well established, and camp for the summer
in light, open wickiups of brushwood, which they sometimes abandon two or
three times during the summer for convenience in fishing, ete. Immediately on
the coast this is scarcely done at all, because not necessary; but the Wailakki
generally go higher up the little streams in the heated term, roaming and camp-
ing along where the salmon trout (Salmo Mason?) and the Coast Range trout
(Salmo irideus) most abound. They capture those and other minnows in a rather
ignominious and un-Waltonian fashion. When the summer heat dries up the
streams to stagnant pools, they rub the poisonous soap-root in the water until

EXTRACTS. 299

the fish are stupefied, when they easily scoop them up, and the poison will not
affect the tough stomach of the aborigines.” (Page 116, etc.).

[The Makhelchel; Clear Lake]. ‘They construct boats of tule,* with indif-
ferent skill. First, two or three long tule-stalks are sewed together for a keel,
and hammered hard. Then others are laid alongside of them, each one over-
lapping the last a little in length, sewed on and beaten. When finished the
bottom is twenty or thirty feet long, elliptical in shape, sharp at the ends, three
or four layers of tule thick, and all hammered hard and water-tight. The sides
are then built up perpendicular, but only one or two tules thick, and not ribbed.
After being in the water awhile the thick bottom becomes water-logged, and if
the boat is capsized it rights itself in an instant, like a loaded cork. One of these
boats will last five years, and carry several men or a ton of merchandise in a
heavy sea. The Makhelchel are bold watermen and skillful fishers. Yet they
take most of their fish in the creeks in spring, which they frequently do by
treading on them with their naked feet in the crevices of the rocks.” (Page
215, etc.).

[The Wintin; Upper Sacramento and Upper Trinity Rivers]. “They
are as remarkable as all Californians for their fondness for being in, and their
daily lavatory use of, cold water. They are almost amphibious, or were before
they were pestered with clothing. Merely to get a drink they would wade in
and dip or toss the water up with their hands. They would dive many feet for
clams, remain down twice as long as an American could, and rise to the surface
with one or more in each hand and one in the mouth. Though I have never
given special attention to the singular shell-mounds which occur in this State, I
have often thought they might have been originated by an ancient race of divers
like these Wintiin. I am not aware that the latter accumulate the shells in
mounds, but they are seen scattered in small piles about their riparian camps.
In ancient times, two rival rancherias might have striven to collect each the
larger heap of shells, as to-day two hunting or fishing parties will carry their
friendly contention to the verge of fool-hardiness to secure the greater amount of
game or fish.

“For a fishing-station the Wintiin ties together two stout poles in a cross,
plants it in deep water, then lays a log out to it from the shore. Standing here,
silent and motionless as a statue, with spear poised in the air, he sometimes looks
down upon so great a multitude of black-backed salmon slowly warping to and
fro in the gentle current, that he could scarcely thrust his spear down without
transfixing one or more. At times, he constructs a booth out over the water,
but it is not nearly so ingenious and pretty a structure as those on the Klamath. ,
His spear is very long and slender, often fifteen feet in length, with a joint of

* Derived from the Aztee word tullin, signifying a bulrush.

300 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

deer’s bone at the end, about three inches long, fashioned with a socket to fit on
to the main spear-shaft, to which it is also fastened by a string tied around its
middle. The Indian aims to drive this movable joint quite through the fish,
whereupon it comes loose, turns crossways, and thus holds the fish securely,
flouncing at the end of the string. The construction of this spear shows a good
knowledge of the gamy, resolute salmon; the string at the end allows him to
play and exhaust himself, while a stiff spear would be broken or wrenched out
of him. A party of six Indians on McCloud’s Fork speared over five hundred
in one night, which would at a moderate calculation give five hundred pounds to
each spearman. In view of this, although an exceptional case, who can doubt
that the ancient population of California may have been very great?” (Page
233, etc.).

[The Modok; formerly southern shore of Lower Klamath Lake, Hot Creek,
Clear Lake, and Lost River]. ‘They formerly had ‘ dug-outs,’ generally made
from the fir, quite rude and unshapely affairs compared with those found on the
Lower Klamath, but substantial, and sometimes capable of carrying a burden of
1,800 pounds. Across the bow of one of these canoes a fish-seine was stretched,
bellying back as the craft was propelled through the water, until the catch was
sufficiently large, when it was lifted up and emptied.” (Page 255).

[The Yokuts; region of Tulare Lake]. “In the mountain streams which
empty into Tulare Lake they catch lake trout, chubs, and suckers. Sometimes
they construct a weir across the river with a narrow chute and a trap set in it;
then go above and stretch a line of brushwood from one bank to the other, which
they drag down stream, driving the fish into the trap. Another way is to erect
a brushwood booth over the water, so thickly covered as to be perfectly dark
inside; then an Indian lies flat on his belly, peering down through a hole, and
when a fish passes under him he spears it. The spear is pointed with bone, and
is two-pronged. Still another method is employed on Tule River and King’s
River. An Indian takes a funnel-shaped trap in his teeth and hands, buoys
himself on a little log, and then floats silently down the rapids, holding the net
open to receive the fish that may be shooting up. On Tulare Lake they construct
very rude, frail punts or mere troughs of tule, about ten feet long, in which they
cruise timidly about near the shore.” (Page 376).

[The Palligawonap; Kern River]. ‘Tule is also the material from which
they construct a rude water-craft. This is only about six feet in length, with the
bow very long and sharp-rounded, and the stern cut nearly square across ; sides
perpendicular; a small tule keel running along the middle, dividing the bottom
into two sides. It will carry only one man, and he has to be very careful when
standing up to keep his feet one on each side of the keel, or the bobbing thing

EXTRACTS. 801

will capsize. It is used principally in fishing, for which purpose they employ
a three-pronged gig pointed with bone. They show much more skill in balancing
themselves in the boat than they do in making it.” (Page 394).

Powers (Stephen): The Indians of Western Nevada; Manuscript in possession
of the Bureau of Ethnology.*—[Pai-ute]. “A kind of balsa or raft is made of
tule for fishing-purposes on Pyramid Lake. They select stalks which are ten
or twelve feet long, and bind them firmly with willow-twigs into fusiform
sheaves or bundles; two of these bundles make the outside of the raft, and be-
tween them is another one, smaller and of uniform thickness throughout. The
ends of the raft are a little turned up, and sticks are thrust horizontally through
the three bundles, to keep them stiff and level on the waves. This raft is pro-
pelled with a pole, which, when not in use, is retained on the raft by being thrust
through loops in the willow-twigs. It will carry one or two men.” — — —

“The Pai-Ute at Pyramid Lake are tribally named from the fish they chiefly
eat—the ki-yu-wi, probably a species of carp, but commonly called by the Amer-
icans a sucker. It is caught in great quantities in the winter season, when
ascending the Truckee River} to spawn. I have seen two Indians bring in, early
in October, two large horse-loads—probably two hundred pounds—as the product
of twenty-four hours’ labor with a throw-line. A single Indian has been known
to make twenty-five dollars a day, for a short period, catching these fish and
selling them in Wadsworth. The night is a favorite time for fishing; the Indian
sometimes lies on his face in a booth or on his tule raft, peering down into the
water, and whenever he sees a fish glide over a white stone at the bottom, reveal-
ing itself plainly, he thrusts it through with a spear. But the spear is less em-
ployed than the hook, the net, and the throw-line. The hook, whether large or
small, is made by lashing a sharp piece of bone to a shaft of grease-wood at a
nearly right angle; this is baited with a minnow or a piece of flesh, and some-
times rubbed over with the aromatic seeds of a certain plant, powdered; and
when the fish swallows it, the hook turns crossways in the throat. A number of
these are fastened by snoods, at regular intervals, to a line with a sinker at the
end, which is thrown out into the water, while the other end is tied to some object
ashore, constituting what is known in the Western States as a throw-line or a
‘trot-line.’{

“Various kinds of nets are made of the fibre of the common milkweed
(Asclepias), very ingeniously twisted on the thigh, and woven with a bobbin.
Men and women both work in cutting up and drying the fish when a heavy catch
has been made. The fish is cut open along the back, on both sides of the back-
bone, which is lifted out, but left attached at the head; the latter is not removed.”

* This manuscript was kindly placed at my disposal by Major J. W. Powell.

+ It flows into Pyramid Lake.
{ Probably a corruption of ‘ trawl-line.”

302 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

Stone (Livingston): Salmon-fishing among the McCloud River Indians in Cali-
fornia. Communicated in writing to the Author in June, 1882.—* The usual method
practised by the McCloud River Indians for capturing salmon is spearing.
Their spear is a very long and comparatively slender pole, thickest in the middle,
and tapering toward both ends. I should say that twenty-five feet may be con-
sidered a fair average length of a McCloud River Indian’s salmon-spear, and in
the middle it is not far from an inch and a half or two inches in diameter. It is
always painted black with a preparation of pitch.

“The anterior end of the spear terminates in a fork with two prongs, about
fifteen inches in length, and likewise of wood. On the end of each of these
prongs is loosely stuck a sharp-pointed piece of bone, made from the ankle of a
deer. These bones are also firmly tied by a rope to the shaft of the spear.
When preparing to strike the fish, the Indian poises the spear over his head, and
throws it with great velocity at the victim. The moment the pointed bones pierce
the salmon, he springs to get away, and pulls the bones off the ends of the
prongs; but the pointed bones being ingeniously fastened to the rope near their
middle, as soon as they are held only by the rope, change their direction nearly
at a right angle, and now become laterally imbedded in the salmon’s body. Thus
the fish is firmly held and is soon pulled ashore.

“The Indians throw their spear with great dexterity, and are usually suc-
cessful in getting salmon with it. They go spearing in the morning and evening, .
but usually in the morning, from daylight to sunrise. They capture with the
spear nearly all the salmon that they eat fresh; but in the fall, when they are
preparing to dry their winter’s stock of fish, they catch them in another way-
At this time they build an angular brush dam across or partly across the river,
with the angle down stream, and at this angle they place a large coarse wicker
basket. This is the season when hundreds and thousands of salmon are floating
down the river in a dying condition at the close of the spawning season. These
exhausted fish are trapped in great numbers in the wicker baskets, from which
they are taken, split, and dried for winter use. Nearly all their supply for dry-
ing is obtained in this manner.

“The McCloud River Indians have a third method of fishing for salmon,
by diving into the river themselves with nets; but this mode is only resorted to
once or twice a year, and is made an occasion of festivities rather than a means
of acquiring food. The whole year’s supply of salmon is practically obtained by
the first-mentioned two methods, viz., by the spear and the wicker basket. I
should say, however, that since the United States Fish Commission has estab-
lished a station on the river, the Indians derive a very large proportion of their
daily and winter’s supply of fish from the nets of the Commission.”*

* Mr. Stone is Deputy U. 8S. Fish Commissioner for the Pacific Coast.

EXTRACTS. 303

Dunn (John): The Oregon Territory, and the British North American Fur
Trade; New York, 1845.—[Chinooks, ete.]. “The salmon season of those tribes
towards the mouth of the Columbia commences in June: and its opening is
an epoch looked forward to with much anxiety, and is attended with great formal-
ity. They have a public festival, and offer sacrifices. The first salmon caught is
a consecrated thing; and is offered to the munificent Spirit who is the giver of
plenty. They have a superstitious scruple about the mode of cutting salmon;
especially at the commencement of the season, before they have an assurance of
a plentiful supply. To cut it crosswise, and to cast the heart into the water, they
consider most unlucky, and likely to bring on a scarce season. Hence they are
very reluctant to supply the traders at the stations with any, until the season is
advanced, and they can calculate on their probable stock; lest an unlucky cross
cut by the white men may mar all their prospects. Their mode is to cut it along
the back; they take out the back bone, and most studiously avoid throwing the
heart into the water. The heart they broil and eat; but will not eat it after
sunset. So plentiful is the fish, that they supply the white men with it in abun-
dance.” ——— ‘Their canoes vary in size and form. Some are thirty feet
long, and about three feet deep, cut out of a single tree—either fir or white
cedar—and capable of carrying twenty persons. They have round thwart pieces
from side to side, forming a sort of binders, about three inches in circumference;
and their gunwales incline outwards, so as to cast off the surge; the bow and
stern being decorated, sometimes, with grotesque figures of men and animals.
In managing their canoes, they kneel two and two along the bottom, sitting on
their heels, and wielding paddles about five feet long; while one sits on the stern
and steers, with a paddle of the same kind. The women are equally expert in
the management of the canoe, and generally take the helm. It is surprising to
see with what fearless unconcern these savages venture in their slight barks on
the most tempestuous seas. They seem to ride upon the waves like sea-fowl.
Should a surge throw the canoe upon one side and endanger its overturn, those
to windward lean over the upper gunwale—thrust their paddles deep into the
wave—apparently catch the water, and force it under the canoe; and by this
action, not merely regain an equilibrium, but give the vessel a vigorous impulse
forward.” (Page 87, etc.).

“Sturgeon are caught by the Chinooks in the following manner. To the
line—which is made from the twisted roots of trees—is attached a large hook,
made of hard wood. ‘This is lowered some twenty feet below the surface of the
water. The canoes are not more than ten feet long;
than two, sometimes only by one; and slowly drift down the river with the
current. When the sturgeon bites, and they have him fast, the line is hauled
up gently until they get his head to the water’s edge. He then receives a blow
from a heavy wooden mallet, which kills him. The gunwale of the canoe is

manned by never more

304 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

lowered to the verge of the water; and the sturgeon, though weighing upwards
of three hundred pounds, is, by the single effort of one Indian, jerked into the
boat.” (Page 96).

“They are very ingenious in the construction of their nets, which are made
of a sort of wild hemp, sometimes called silk-grass, found on the upper borders
of the Columbia; or of the fibres of the roots of trees; or the inner ligaments of
the bark of the white cedar. These nets are of different kinds, for the different
kinds of fishery—the straight net for the larger fish in deep water; and the
scooping or dipping-net for the smaller fish in the shallower waters. They also
use a curious sort of many-pronged spear, for drawing up small fish. This is a
pole set all round with numerous short wooden little spikes. This they work
along against the current from the canoe, and against the small fish, that swim
onwards in dense masses. At every take-up of this spear, which is done in quick
succession, it is found filled with fishes impaled on those sharp spikes. In their
nets they use stones in place of lead; and their superior usefulness and adapta-
tion to the fishery of the Columbia, over the nets of the civilized white, may be
shown from the following fact:— A Mr. Wyeth, of Boston, having heard much
of the salmon fishery in the Columbia, and thinking it would afford a profitable
trading speculation, chartered a vessel, in 1835; and on his way took a number of
Sandwich Islanders as fishermen ; supplying himself also with a cargo of fishing
nets, and a great variety of other fishing apparatus, on the most approved prin-
ciples. On arriving at the Columbia, he set vigorously to work, dead sure of
making a fortune. But his nets were totally unfit for the occupation; and his
exotic fishermen, notoriously familiar as they are with the watery element, were
no match for the natives, pursuing their natural occupation in almost their in-
digenous element, and so familiar with the seasons, the currents, the localities,
and all the many other circumstances that insure success.” (Page 98, etc.).

Swan (James G.): The Northwest Coast; or, Three Years’ Residence in
Washington Territory ; New York, 1857.— The Chenook salmon commences to
enter the river (Columbia) the last of May, and is most plentiful about the 20th
of June. It is, without doubt, the finest salmon in the world, and, being taken
so near the ocean, has its fine flavor in perfection. The salmon, when entering
ariver to spawn, do not at once proceed to the head-waters, but linger round
the mouth for several weeks before they are prepared to go farther up. It has
been supposed that they cannot go immediately from the ocean to the cold fresh
water, but remain for a time where the water is brackish before they venture on
so great a change. Be that as it may, one thing is certain, that the early salmon
taken at Chenook are far superior in flavor to any that are subsequently taken
farther up the river, and this excellence is so generally acknowledged that Che-
nook salmon command a higher price than any other. — — —

EXTRACTS. 305

“The Chenook fishery is carried on by means of nets. These are made by
the whites of the twine prepared for the purpose, and sold as salmon-twine, and
rigged with floats and sinkers in the usual style. The nets of the Indians are
made of a twine spun by themselves from the fibres of spruce roots prepared for
the purpose, or from a species of grass brought from the north by the Indians.
It is very strong, and answers the purpose admirably. Peculiar-shaped sticks
of dry cedar are used for floats, and the weights at the bottom are round beach
pebbles, about a pound each, notched to keep them from slipping from their
fastenings, and securely held by withes of cedar firmly twisted and woven into
the foot-rope of the net.

“The nets vary in size from a hundred feet long to a hundred fathoms, or
six hundred feet, and from seven to sixteen feet deep.

“Three persons are required to work a net, except the very large ones, which
require more help to land them. The time the fishing is commenced is at the
top of high-water, just as the tide begins to ebb. A short distance from the shore
the current is very swift, and with its aid these nets are hauled. Two persons
get into the canoe, on the stern of which is coiled the net on a frame made for
the purpose, resting on the canoe’s gunwale. She is then paddled up the stream,
close in to the beach, where the current is not so strong. A tow-line, with a
wooden float attached to it, is then thrown to the third person, who remains on
the beach, and immediately the two in the canoe paddle her into the rapid stream
as quickly as they can, throwing out the net all the time. When this is all out,
they paddle ashore, having the end of the other tow-line made fast to the canoe.
Before all this is accomplished, the net is carried down the stream, by the force
of the ebb, about the eighth of a mile, the man on the shore walking along
slowly, holding on to the line till the others are ready, when all haul in together.
As it gradually closes on the fish, great caution must be used to prevent them
from jumping over; and as every salmon has to be knocked on the head with a
club for the purpose, which every canoe carries, it requires some skill and practice
to perform this feat so as not to bruise or disfigure the fish.” —— —

“Tt was formerly the custom among the Chenook Indians, on the appearance
of the first salmon, to have a grand feast, with dancing and other performances
suited to the occasion; but the tribe has now dwindled down to a mere handful,
and they content themselves simply with taking out the salmon’s heart as soon
as caught—a ceremony they religiously observe, fearful lest by any means a dog
should eat one, in which case they think they can catch no more fish that season.”

(Page 103, etc.).

Swan (James G.): The Indians of Cape Flattery, at the Entrance to the Strait
of Fuca, Washington Territory ; Washington, 1869; No. 220 of Smithsonian Con-
tributions to Knowledge—*The principal subsistence of the Makahs is drawn

R39

306 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

from the ocean, and is formed of nearly all its products, the most important of
which are the whale and halibut. Of the former there are several varieties which
are taken at different seasons of the year.——-— The California gray is the
kind usually taken by the Indians, the others being but rarely attacked.

“Their mode of whaling, being both novel and interesting, will require a
minute description—not only the implements used, but the mode of attack, and
the final disposition of the whale, being entirely different from the practice of
our own whalemen. The harpoon consists of a barbed head, to which is attached
a rope or lanyard, always of the same length, about five fathoms or thirty feet.
This lanyard is made of whale’s sinews twisted into a rope about an inch and a
half in circumference, and covered with twine wound around it very tightly,
called by sailors ‘serving.’ The rope is exceedingly strong and very pliable.

Fig. 368.—Makah harpoon-head and line.

“The harpoon-head is a flat piece of iron or copper, usually a saw-blade or
a piece of sheet copper, to which a couple of barbs made of elk’s or deer’s horn
are secured, and the whole covered with a coating of spruce gum. ‘The staff is
made of yew in two pieces, which are joined in the middle by a very neat scarf,
firmly secured by a narrow strip of bark wound around it very tightly. I do
not know why these staves or handles are not made of one piece; it may be that
the yew does not grow sufficiently straight to afford the required length; but I
have never seen a staff that was not constructed as here described. The length
is eighteen feet; thickest in the centre, where it is joined together, and tapering
thence to both ends. To be used, the staff is inserted into the barbed head, and
the end of the lanyard made fast to a buoy, which is simply a seal-skin taken
from the animal whole, the hair being left inwards. The apertures of the head,
feet, and tail are tied up air-tight, and the skin is inflated like a bladder.

EXTRACTS. 307

‘When the harpoon is driven into a whale, the barb and buoy remain fast-
ened to him, but the staff comes out, and is taken into the canoe. The harpoon
which is thrown into the head of the whale has but one buoy attached; but those
thrown into the body have as many as can be conveniently tied on; and, when a
number of canoes join in the attack, it is not unusual for from thirty to forty of
these buoys to be made fast to the whale, which, of course, cannot sink, and is
easily despatched by their spears and lances. The buoys are fastened together
by means of a stout line made of spruce roots, first slightly roasted in hot ashes,
then split with knives into fine fibres, and finally twisted into ropes, which are
very strong and durable. These ropes are also used for towing the dead whale
to the shore. — — —

Fic. 369.

Fries. 369 and 370.—Makah whaling-canoe and paddle.

“A whaling canoe invariably carries eight men: one in the bow, who is the
harpooner, one in the stern to steer, and six to paddle. The canoe is divided
by sticks, which serve as stretchers or thwarts, into six spaces. —— — When
whales are in sight, and one or more canoes have put off in pursuit, it is usual
for some one to be on the look-out from a high position, so that in case a whale
is struck, a signal can be given and other canoes go to assist. When the whale
is dead, it is towed ashore to the most convenient spot, if possible to one of the
villages, and hauled as high on the beach as it can be floated. As soon as the
tide recedes, all hands swarm around the carcass with their knives, and in a very
short time the blubber is stripped off in blocks about two feet square. The por-
tion of blubber forming a saddle, taken from between the head and dorsal fin, is
esteemed the most choice, and is always the property of the person who first
strikes the whale. The other portions are distributed according to rule, each
man knowing what he is to receive. — — — ‘The blubber, after being skinned,
is cut into strips and boiled, to get out the oil that can be extracted by that pro-
cess; this oil is carefully skimmed from the pots with clam shells. The blubber

308 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

is then hung in the smoke to dry, and when cured, looks very much like citron.
It is somewhat tougher than pork, but sweet (if the whale has been recently
killed), and has none of that nauseous taste which the whites attribute to it.
When cooked, it is common to boil the strips about twenty minutes; but it is
often eaten cold and as an accompaniment to dried halibut.” (Page 19, ete.).

“The principal articles manufactured by the Makahs are canoes and whaling
implements, conical hats, bark mats, fishing-lines, fish-hooks, knives and daggers,
bows and arrows, dog’s hair blankets, feather capes, and various other articles.
The largest and best canoes are made by the Clyoquots and Nittinats on Van-
couver Island; the cedar there being of a quality greatly superior to that found
on or near Cape Flattery. Canoes of the medium and small sizes are made by
the Makahs from cedar procured a short distance up the Strait or on the Tsuess
River. After the tree is cut down and the bark stripped, the log is cut at the
length required for the canoes, and the upper portion removed by splitting it off
with wedges, until the greatest width is attained. The two ends are then rough-
hewed to a tapering form and a portion of the inside dug out. The log is next
turned over and properly shaped for a bottom, then turned back and more
chopped from the inside, until enough has been removed from both inside and
out to permit it to be easily handled, when it is slid into the water and taken to
the lodge of the maker, where he finishes it at his leisure. In some cases they
finish a canoe in the woods, but generally it is brought home as soon as they can
haul it to the stream. Before the introduction of iron tools, the making of a
canoe was a work of much difficulty. Their hatchets were made of stone, and
their chisels of mussel shells ground to a sharp edge by rubbing them on a piece
of sandstone. It required much time and extreme labor to cut down a large
cedar, and it was only the chiefs who had a number of slaves at their disposal
who attempted such large operations. Their method was to gather round a tree
as many as could work, and these chipped away with their stone hatchets till the
tree was literally gnawed down, after the fashion of beavers. Then to shape it
and hollow it out was also a tedious job, and many a month would intervene
between the times of commencing to fell the tree, and finishing the canoe. The
implements they use at present are axes to do the rough-hewing, and chisels
fitted to handles; these last are used like a cooper’s adze, and remove the wood
in small chips. The process of finishing is very slow. A white carpenter could
smooth off the hull of a canoe with a plane, and do more in two hours than the
Indian with his chisel can do in a week. The outside, when it is completed,
serves as a guide for finishing the inside, the workman gauging the requisite
thickness by placing one hand on the outside and the other on the inside, and
passing them over the work. He is guided in modelling by the eye, seldom, if
ever, using a measure of any kind; and some are so expert in this that they
make lines as true as the most skilful mechanic can. If the tree is not suf-

EXTRACTS. 309

ficiently thick to give the required width, they spring the top of the sides apart,
in the middle of the canoe, by steaming the wood. The inside is filled with water
which is heated by means of red-hot stones, and a slow fire is made on the out-
side by rows of bark laid on the ground, a short distance off, but near enough
to warm the cedar without burning it. This renders the wood very flexible in a
short time, so that the sides can be opened from six to twelve inches. The canoe
is now strengthened, and kept in form by sticks or stretchers, similar to a boat’s
thwarts. The ends of these stretchers are fastened with withes made from taper-
ing cedar limbs, twisted, and used instead of cords, and the water is then emptied
out; this process is not often employed, however, the log being usually sufficiently
wide in the first instance. As the projections for the head and stern pieces can-
not be cut from the log, they are carved from separate pieces and fastened on by
means of withes and wooden pegs. A very neat and peculiar scarf is used in
joining these pieces to the body of the canoe, and the parts are fitted together in
a simple and effectual manner. First the scarf is made on the canoe; this is
rubbed over with grease and charcoal; next the piece to be fitted is hewn as
nearly like the scarf as the eye can guide, and applied to the part which has the
grease on it. It is then removed, and the inequalities being at once discovered
and chipped off with the chisel, the process is repeated until the whole of the
scarf or the piece to be fitted is uniformly marked with the blackened grease.
The joints are by this method perfectly matched, and so neat as to be water-tight
without any calking. The head and stern pieces being fastened on, the whole of
the inside is then chipped over again, and the smaller and more indistinct the
chisel marks are, the better the workmanship is considered.

Fia. 371.—Makah canoe showing method of scarfing.

“Until very recently it was the custom to ornament all canoes, except the
small ones, with rows of the pearly valve of a species of sea-snail. These shells
are procured in large quantities at Nittinat and Clyoquot, and formerly were in
great demand as an article of traffic. They are inserted in the inside of the
edge of the canoe by driving them into holes bored to receive them. But at
present they are not much used by the Makahs, for the reason, I presume, that
they are continually trading off their canoes, and find they bring quite as good
a price without these ornaments as with them. I have noticed, however, among
some of the Clallams, who are apt to keep a canoe much longer than the Makahs,
that the shell ornaments are still used. When the canoe is finished, it is

310 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

painted inside with a mixture of oil and red ochre. Sometimes charcoal and oil
are rubbed on the outside, but more commonly it is simply charred by means of
long fagots of cedar splints, set on fire on one end like a torch, and held against
the side of the canoe. The surface is then rubbed smooth with a wisp of grass
or a branch of cedar twigs.” (Page 35, etc.).

Swan (James G.): The Haidah Indians of Queen Charlotte's Islands, British
Columbia; Washington, 1874; No. 267 of Smithsonian Contributions to Knowl!-
edge —‘ The Haidah Indians, living on an island separated from the mainland
by a wide and stormy strait, are necessarily obliged to resort to canoes as a means
of travel, and are exceedingly expert in their construction and management.

“Some of their canoes are very large and capable of carrying one hundred
persons with all their equipments for a long voyage. But those generally used
will carry from twenty to thirty persons; and in these conveyances they make
voyages of several hundred miles to Victoria on Vancouver’s Island, and from
thence to the various towns on Puget Sound.

“These canoes are made from single logs of cedar, which attains an immense
size on Queen Charlotte’s Islands. Although not so graceful in model as the
canoes of the west coast of Vancouver’s Island and Washington Territory, which
are commonly called Chenook canoes, yet they are most excellent sea boats, and
capable of being navigated with perfect safety through the storms and turbulent
waters of the Northwest Coast.” (Page 2).*

Meares (John): Voyages made in the years I788 and I789, from China to the
N.W. Coast of America, etc.; London, 1791—[Inhabitants of Nootka Sound,
Vancouver’s Island]. ‘“ Vast quantities of fish are to be found, both on the coast
and in the sounds or harbours.—Among these are the halibut, herring, sardine,
silver-bream, salmon, trout, cod, elephant-fish, shark, dog-fish, cuttle-fish, a great
variety of rock-fish, &¢.—all of which we have seen in the possession of the
natives, or have been caught by ourselves. There are, probably, a great abun-
dance of other kinds, which are not to be taken by the hook, the only method of
taking fish with which the natives are acquainted, and we had neither trawls or

nets.

“In the spring, the herrings as well as the sardines, frequent the coast in
vast shoals. The herring is from seven to eight inches long, and, in general,
smaller than those taken in the British seas. The sardine resembles that of
Portugal, and is very delicious: they are here taken by the people in prodigious
quantities. They first drive the shoals into the small coves, or shallow waters,

* A canoe of this kind, procured through the agency of Mr. Swan, is in the National Museum. It attracted
much attention during the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia, on account of its large size, being fifty-nine
feet long, and eight feet wide by three feet and seven inches in depth amidships. It is made of a log of the
yellow cedar (Thuya gigantea).

EXTRACTS. oul

when a certain number of men in canoes keep plashing the water, while others
sink branches of the pine with stones; the fish are then easily taken out with
wooden troughs or wicker baskets. We have sometimes seen such numbers of
them, that a whole village has not been able to cleanse them before they began
to grow putrid.—After being cleaned, they are placed on rods, and hung in rows,
at a certain distance, over their fires, that thay may be smoked; and when they
are sufficiently dried, they are carefully packed up in mats, and laid by asa part,
and a very considerable part, of their winter’s provision. The season for taking
these fish is in the months of July and August. Certain people, at this time,
are stationed on particular eminences, to look for the arrival of the shoals, which
can be very readily distinguished by the particular motion of the sea. The
natives then embark in their canoes to-proceed in their fishery. The sardine is
preferred by them to every other kind of fish, except the salmon.

“In the months of July, August, and September, salmon are taken, though
not in so great abundance as the other fish, but are of a very delicate flavour.
They are split, dried, and packed up, as has already been described, and are con-
sidered as a great delicacy. The salmon of the district of Nootka are very dif-
ferent from those found to the Northward, which are of an inferior kind, and of
the same species with those taken at Kamtschatka.

‘During our stay in King George’s Sound, we saw very few sharks or hali-
but; but the cod taken by the natives were of the best quality :—they are also
prepared, like the rest, for the purpose of winter stores.” (Vol. III, page 29, etc.).

“The occupations of the men of this coast were such as arose from their
particular situation. Fishing, and hunting the land or larger marine animals,
either for food or furs, form their principal employments.—The common business
of fishing for ordinary sustenance is carried on by slaves, or the lower class of
people :—While the more noble occupation of killing the whale and hunting the
sea-otter, is followed by none but the chiefs and warriors.

‘Their dexterity in killing the whale is not easily described, and the facility
with which they convey so huge a creature to their habitations is no less remark-
able. When it is determined to engage in whale-hunting, which the most stormy
weather does not prevent, the chief prepares himself, with no common ceremony,
for this noble diversion.—He is cloathed on the occasion in the sea-otter’s skin ;
his body is besmeared with oil, and daubed with red ochre; and he is accompa-
nied by the most brave, active, and vigorous people in his service.

“The canoes employed on this occasion are of a size between their war
canoes and those they use on ordinary occasions; they are admirably well adapted
to the purpose, and are capable of holding, conveniently, eighteen or twenty men.

“The harpoons which they use to strike the whale or any other sea-animal,
except the otter, are contrived with no common skill. The shaft is from eighteen

312 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

to twenty-eight feet in length; at the end whereof is fixed a large piece of bone
cut in notches, which being spliced to the shaft, serves as a secure hold for the
harpoon, which is fastened to it with thongs—The harpoon is of an oval form,
and rendered extremely sharp at the sides as well as the point; it is made of a
large muscle-shell, and is fixed into another piece of bone, about three inches
long, and to which a line is fastened, made of the sinews of certain beasts, of
several fathoms in length; this is again attached to the shaft; so that when the
fish is pierced, the shaft floats on the water by means of seal-skins filled with
wind, or the ventilated bladders of fish, which are securely attached to it.

‘The chief himself is the principal harpooner, and is the first that strikes
the whale.—He is attended by several canoes of the same size as his own, filled
with people armed with harpoons, to be employed as occasion may require.
When the huge fish feels the smart of the first weapon, he instantly dives, and
carries the shaft with all its bladders along with him. The boats immediately
follow his wake, and as he rises, continue to fix their weapons in him, till he
finds it impossible for him to sink, from the number of floating buoys which are
now attached to his body. The whale then drowns, and is towed on shore with
great noise and rejoicings. It is then immediately cut up, when part is dedi-
eated to the feast which concludes the day, and the remainder divided among
those who have shared in the dangers and glory of it.

“The taking of the sea-otter is attended with far greater hazard as well as
trouble. For this purpose two very small canoes are prepared, in each of which
are two expert hunters. The instruments they employ on this occasion are bows
and arrows, and a small harpoon. The latter differs, in some degree, from that
which they use in hunting the whale; the shaft is much the same, and is pointed
with bone; but the harpoon itself is of a greater length, and so notched and
barbed, that when it has once entered the flesh, it is almost impossible to extri-
cate it. This is attached to the shaft by several fathoms of line of sufficient
strength to drag the otter to the boat. The arrows are small, and pointed with
bone, formed into a single barb. Thus equipped, the hunters proceed among the
rocks in search of their prey—Sometimes they surprise him sleeping on his
back, on the surface of the water; and, if they can get near the animal without
awakening him, which requires infinite precaution, he is easily harpooned and
dragged to the boat, when a fierce battle very often ensues between the otter and
the hunters, who are frequently wounded by the claws and teeth of the animal.
The more common mode, however, of taking him is by pursuit, which is some-
times continued for several hours.—As he cannot remain under water but for a
very short time, the skill in this chace consists in directing the canoes in the
same line that the otter takes when under the water, at which time he swims
with a degree of celerity that greatly exceeds that of his pursuers. They there-
fore separate, in order to have the better chance of wounding him with their

EXTRACTS. 313

arrows at the moment he rises; though it often happens that this wary and cun-
ning animal escapes from the danger which surrounds him.

“Tt has been observed, in the account already given of the otter, that when
they are overtaken with their young ones, the parental affection supersedes all
sense of danger; and both the male and female defend their offspring with the
most furious courage, tearing out the arrows and harpoons fixed in them with
their teeth, and oftentimes even attacking the canoes. On these occasions, how-
ever, they and their litter never fail of yielding to the power of the hunters.
The difficulty of taking the otter might indeed occasion some degree of surprise
at the number of the skins which the natives appear to have in use, and for the
purposes of trade. But the circumstance may be easily accounted for, by the
constant exercise of this advantageous occupation: scarce a day passes, but num-
bers are eagerly employed in the pursuit of it.

“The seal is also an animal very difficult to take, on account of its being
able to remain under water. Artifices are therefore made use of to decoy him
within reach of the boats; and this is done in general by the means of masks of
wood made in so exact a resemblance of nature, that the animal takes it for one
of his own species, and falls a prey to the deception. On such occasions, some
of the natives put on these masks, and hiding their bodies with branches of trees
as they le among the rocks, the seals are tempted to approach so near the spot,
as to put it in the power of the natives to pierce them with their arrows. Simi-
lar artifices are employed against the sea-cow, &c. The otters, as well as some
of the land animals, are, we believe, occasionally taken in the same manner.

“The very preparation for the business of hunting and fishing, requires no
small portion of domestic employment. Their harpoons, lines, fish-hooks, bows
and arrows, and other implements necessary in the different pursuits of peace
and war, must make a very great demand upon their time. ——— The inge-
nuity of these people in all the different arts that is necessary to their support
and their pleasure, is matter of just admiration to the more cultivated parts of
the globe. Nature, that fond and bounteous parent to her children of every kind,
has left none of them without those means which are capable of producing the
relative happiness of all. But the most laborious, as well as most curious em-
ployment in which we saw the natives of Nootka engaged, (for we had no oppor-
tunity of seeing them construct one of their enormous houses,) was the making
of their canoes; which was a work of no common skill and ability. These boats
are, many of them, capable of containing from fifteen to thirty men, with ease
and convenience; and at the same time are elegantly moulded and highly fin-
ished; and this curious work is accomplished with utensils of stone, made by
themselves.

“They even manufactured tools from the iron which they obtained from
us; and it was very seldom that we could pursuade them to make use of

Rr 40

314 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

any of our utensils in preference to their own, except the saw, whose obvious
power in diminishing their labour, led them to adopt it without hesitation. In
particular, they contrived to forge from the iron they procured of us, a kind of
tool, which answered the purpose of hollowing out large trees much better than
any utensil we could give them. This business they accomplished by main
strength, with a flat stone by way of anvil, and a round one which served the
purpose of an hammer; and with these instruments they shaped the iron from
the fire into a tool bearing some resemblance to a cooper’s adze, which they fast-
ened to an handle of wood with cords made of sinews; and being sharpened at
the end, was extremely well adapted to the uses for which it was intended.

“Their large war canoes were generally finished on the spot where the trees
grew of which they are made, and then dragged to the water-side. We have
seen some of them which were fifty-three feet in length, and eight feet in breadth.
The middle part of these boats is the broadest, and gradually narrows to a point
at each end; but their head or prow is generally much higher than the stern.

“As their bottoms are rounded, and their sides flam out, they have conse-
quently sufficient bearings, and swim firmly in the water. They have no seats,
but several pieces of wood, about three inches in diameter, are fixed across them,
to keep the sides firm, and preserve them from being warped. The rowers gen-
erally sit on their hams, but sometimes they make use of a kind of small stool,
which is a great relief to them. In the act of embarking they are extremely
cautious, each man regularly taking the station to which he has been accustomed.
Some of these canoes are polished and painted, or curiously studded with human
teeth, particularly on the stern and the prow. The sides were sometimes adorned
with the figure of a dragon with a long tail, of much the same form as we see on
the porcelain of China, and in the fanciful paintings of our own country. We
were much struck with this circumstance, and took some pains to get at the his-
tory of it; but it was among many other of our enquiries to which we could not
obtain any satisfactory answer.

“After we had been some time in King George’s Sound, the natives began
to make use of sails made of mats, in imitation of ours. We had, indeed, rigged
one of Hanna’s large canoes for him, with a pendant, &c. &c. of which he was
proud beyond measure; and he never approached the ship but hoisted his pen-
dant, to the very great diversion of our seamen.

“The paddles are nicely shaped, and well polished with fish-skin: they are
about five feet six inches in length; and the blade, which is about two feet long,
is pointed like a leaf, and the point itself is lengthened several inches, and is
about one broad. At the end of the handle there is a transverse piece of wood
like the top of a crutch. These paddles the natives use in a most dextrous man-
ner, and urge on the canoes with inconceivable swiftness.

“Tn no one circumstance of their different occupations do the natives of

EXTRACTS. 315

Nootka discover more dexterity than in that of fishing. They however always
preferred their own hooks, which were made from shells, or the bone of fish, to
ours; nor indeed would they ever make use of the latter; but our lines they
considered as very superior to those of their own manufacture. These are made
from the sinews of the whale, which furnishes them with the materials of all
their different cordage,—or from sea-weed, which grows on the coast in great
abundance. This is split, boiled, and dried, when it forms a strong and very
tough line.

“ But, besides the common practice of angling, they have a very particular
method of taking herrings, sardines, &. This is managed with a stick or pole
about eighteen feet long, with a blade of twelve or fourteen inches broad, and six
feet long, on both sides of which are fixed a number of sharp pieces or points of
bone, about three inches in length. When the shoal of fish appears, they strike
this instrument into the water, and seldom fail of bringing up three or four fish
at every stroke-—We have often seen a small canoe nearly filled with herrings,
&c. in a very short time, by this easy method of fishing.” (Vol. II, page 51, etc.).

Cook (Captain James) and King (Captain James): A Voyage to the Pacific
Ocean, etc.; third edition; London, 1785, Vol. I7*—[Inhabitants of Nootka Sound].
“Their canoes are of a simple structure, but, to appearance, well calculated for
every useful purpose. Even the largest, which carry twenty people or more, are
formed of one tree. Many of them are forty feet long, seven broad, and about
three deep. From the middle, toward each end, they become gradually narrower,
the after-part, or stern, ending abruptly or perpendicularly, with a small knob
on the top; but the fore-part is lengthened out, stretching forward and upward,
ending in a notched point or prow, considerably higher than the sides of the
canoe, which run nearly in a straight line. For the most part, they are without
any ornament; but some have a little carving, and are decorated by setting seal’s
teeth+ on the surface, like studs; as is the practice on their masks and weapons,
A few have, likewise, a kind of additional head or prow, like a large cut-water,
which is painted with the figure of some animal. They have no seats, nor any
other supporters, on the inside, than several round sticks, little thicker than a
cane, placed across, at mid depth. They are very light, and their breadth and
flatness enable them to swim firmly, without an out-rigger, which none of them
have; a remarkable distinction between the navigation of all the American
nations, and that of the Southern parts of the East Indies, and the Islands in
the Pacific Ocean. Their paddles are small and light; the shape, in some meas-
ure, resembling that of a large leaf, pointed at the bottom, broadest in the middle,
and grandually losing itself in the shaft, the whole being about five feet long.

* Vol. II is written by Captain Cook. The voyage was performed in the years 1776-’80.
+ Mistaken for human teeth by Meares.

316 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

They have acquired great dexterity in managing these paddles, by constant use ;
for sails are no part of their art of navigation.

“Their implements for fishing and hunting, which are both ingeniously
contrived, and well made, are nets, hooks and lines, harpoons, gigs, and an in-
strument like an oar. This last is about twenty feet long, four or five inches
broad, and about half an inch thick. Hach edge, for about two-thirds of its
length (the other third being its handle), is set with sharp bone-teeth, about two
inches long. Herrings and sardines, and such other small fish as come in shoals,
are attacked with this instrument; which is struck into the shoal, and the fish
are caught, either upon or between the teeth. Their hooks are made of bone and
wood, and rather inartificially; but the harpoon, with which they strike the
whales and lesser sea animals, shews a great reach of contrivance. It is com-
posed of a piece of bone, cut into two barbs, in which is fixed the oval blade of
a large muscle shell, in which is the point of the instrument. To this is fastened
about two or three fathoms of rope; and to throw this harpoon, they use a shaft
of about twelve or fifteen feet long, to which the line or rope is made fast; and
to one end of which the harpoon is fixed, so as to separate from the shaft, and
leave it floating upon the water as a buoy, when the animal darts away with the
harpoon. — — — _ As to the materials, of which they make their various
articles, it is to be observed, that every thing of the rope kind, is formed either
from thongs of skins, and sinews of animals; or from the same flaxen substance
of which their mantles are manufactured. The sinews often appeared to be of
such a length, that it might be presumed they could be of no other animal than
the whale. And the same may be said of the bones of which they make their
weapons already mentioned; such as their bark-beating instruments, the points
of their spears, and the barbs of their harpoons.” (Page 327, etc.).

[Inhabitants of Prince William’s Sound, present Territory of Alaska].
“Their boats or canoes are of two sorts; the one being large and open, and the
other small and covered. I mentioned already, that in one of the large boats
were twenty women, and one man, besides children. I attentively examined and
compared the construction of this, with Crantz’s description of what he calls the
great, or women’s boat in Greenland, and found that they were built in the same
manner, parts like parts, with no other difference than in the form of the head
and stern; particularly of the first, which bears some resemblance to the head
of a whale. The framing is of slender pieces of wood, over which the skins of
seals, or of other larger sea-animals, are stretched, to compose the outside. It
appeared also, that the small canoes of these people are made nearly of the same
form, and of the same materials with those used by the Greenlanders and Esqui-
maux; at least the difference is not material. Some of these, as I have before
observed, carry two men. They are broader in proportion to their length than

EXTRACTS. 317

those of the Esquimaux; and the head or fore-part curves somewhat like the
head of a violin.

“The weapons, and instruments for fishing and hunting, are the very same
that are made use of by the Esquimaux and Greenlanders; and it is unnecessary
to be particular in my account of them, as they are all very accurately described
by Crantz. I did not see a single one with these people that he has not men-
tioned ; nor has he mentioned one that they have not.” (Page 371, etc.).

[Inhabitants of Oonalashka, Aleutian Islands]. “ Political reasons may
have induced the Russians not to allow these islanders to have any large canoes;
for it is difficult to believe they had none such originally, as we found them
amongst all their neighbors. The canoes made use of by the natives are the
smallest we had any where seen upon the American coast; though built after
the same manner, with some little difference in the construction. The stern of
these terminates a little abruptly; the head is forked; the upper point of the
fork projecting without the under one, which is even with the surface of the
water. Why they should thus construct them is difficult to conceive; for the
fork is apt to catch hold of every thing that comes in the way; to prevent which,
they fix a piece of small stick from point to point. In other respects their canoes
are built after the manner of those used by the Greenlanders and Esquimaux ;
the framing being of slender laths, and the covering of seal-skins. They are
about twelve feet long; a foot and a half broad in the middle; and twelve or
fourteen inches deep. Upon occasion, they can carry two persons; one of whom
is stretched at full length in the canoe; and the other sits in the seat, or round
hole, which is nearly in the middle. Round this hole is a rim or hoop of wood,
about which is sewed gut-skin, that can be drawn together, or opened like a purse,
with leathern thongs fitted to the outer edge. The man seats himself in this
place; draws the skin tight round his body over his gut frock, and brings the
ends of the thongs, or purse-string, over the shoulder to keep it in its place. The
sleeves of his frock are tied tight round his wrists; and it being close round his
neck, and the hood drawn over his head, where it is confined by his cap, water
can scarcely penetrate either to his body, or into the canoe. Tf any should, how-
ever, insinuate itself, the boatman carries a piece of spunge, with which he dries
it up. He uses the double-bladed paddle, which is held with both hands in the
middle, striking the water with a quick regular motion, first on one side and then
on the other. By this means the canoe is impelled at a great rate, and in a
direction as straight as a line can be drawn. In sailing from Egoochshak to
Samganoodha, two or three canoes kept way with the ship, though she was going
at the rate of seven miles an hour.

“Their fishing and hunting implements lie ready upon the canoes, under
straps fixed for the purpose. They are all made, in great perfection, of wood

318 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

and bone; and differ very little from those used by the Greenlanders, as they
are described by Crantz. The only difference is in the point of the missile dart;
which, in some we saw here, is not above an inch long; whereas Crantz says,
that those of the Greenlanders are a foot and a half in length.” (Page 513, etc.).

APPENDIX.

NOTICES OF FISHING-IMPLEMENTS AND FISH-REPRESENTATIONS
DISCOVERED SOUTH OF MEXICO.

Nicaraqua.—Dr. J. ¥. Bransford, U. 8. N., found during his explorations in
Central America, undertaken in the interest of the National Museum, on the
Island of Ometepec, in the Lake of Nicaragua, a number of sinkers made of lava
pebbles or of fragments of clay vessels.

Fra. 372. (28846). Fia. 373. (28830).

Fries. 372 and 373,—Stone sinkers. Ometepec Island.

Figs. 372 and 373 represent two of the lava sinkers, which exhibit, respec-
tively, the notched and the grooved type. They are made of dark-colored, mass-
ive pebbles, showing the cellules often characteristic of volcanic ejections.

The sinkers made of pieces of clay vessels are mostly notched on opposite
sides, like the originals of Figs. 374 and 375 on the next page. The slight
curve observable in these sinkers and their thickness (sometimes surpassing
half an inch) indicate that they were made of fragments of large and strong
vessels. The notches as well as the circumferences seem to have been ground,
and the latter are not angular, but rounded. Some specimens still show the
paint of the vessel. Similar sinkers, it will be remembered, have been found in
Germany.*

Other objects from Ometepec Island, which, in all probability, served as
sinkers, are made of parts of the thickened rims of vessels. These specimens
generally present an elongated form, and are encircled with a groove near each

* See p. 62 of this work.

319

320 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

end, or simply provided in the same places with opposite notches. Fig. 376
shows the appearance of an object of the first kind, still covered with the reddish-
brown paint of the vessel. It is ground into shape on the side formed by the
fracture. Mr. Charles C. Nutting likewise procured for the National Museum a
number of these specimens on Ometepec Island.

fi a

; Ms Hf

: f aq i

Fic. 374. (28811). Fig. 375. (28811).

Fig. 376. (28911). Fig. 377. (28811).

All 3

Fires. 374-577. Sinkers made of fragments of clay vessels. Ometepec Island.

In Fig. 377, finally, I represent a sherd of somewhat pear-shaped outline,
pierced for suspension near the narrower extremity. There seems to be little
risk in classing it as a sinker.

Costa Rica —The National Museum is indebted to Mr. M. C. Keith, con-
nected with the Costa Rica Railway, which has its eastern terminus at Port
Limon, for a large number of valuable relics discovered during the construction
of that road. They consist of clay vessels, stone implements, and stone sculpt-
ures of various kinds.

APPENDIX. 321

Among the stone carvings is a somewhat rude and weathered specimen, to
all appearance intended to imitate a fish. A handle rises from its back, as Fie.
378 shows. The object is flattish, about two inches thick in the middle, and
nearly fourteen inches long. It weighs eight pounds and a half. The material
is a rather compact, gray rock of volcanic origin. It is the only specimen of
this kind sent by Mr. Keith, and I am unable to make any suggestion as to its
use. It is probable, however, that it served a symbolic or ceremonial purpose.
There is no trace of wear observable in any place.

Fic. 378.—Stone-carying in the form of a fish. Costa Rica. (60895).

Chiriqui, State of Panama, United States of Colombia.—It is now about
twenty-five years that great excitement was caused by the discovery of large
numbers of gold images in graves situated in the Chiriqui district, now belong-
ing to the State of Panama. The cemetery, or huacal, which has furnished most
of these interesting specimens of aboriginal art, is located in the parish of Bugaba,
about twenty-five miles from David, the principal town in the district. It covers
an area of twelve acres. The graves themselves were oval or quadrangular pits,
lined with stones. They contained, in addition to the gold articles, well-formed
clay vessels of various forms, animal-shaped clay whistles, stone celts and arrows,
and metates of a highly ornamental character. The bodies, it appears, had alto-
gether yielded to decay. The gold images alone, however, claim our attention in
the present instance. They were evidently cast and afterward finished by beating,
and their technical execution reflects credit on the skill of the manufacturers.
Their forms were those of wild beasts, birds, reptiles, and fishes peculiar to the
region ; some represented men or semi-human monsters of hideous shape. They
probably served as ornaments or charms, worn by the living and buried with the

R41

322 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

dead. It should be stated, however, that in most cases the gold composing them
was not pure, but more or less alloyed with copper. In speaking of them, I have
used the past tense, as I have reason to believe that most of these valuable relics
were shipped to England, to be converted into bullion.

My attention was first directed to the Chiriqui discoveries by an article pub-
lished in “ Harper’s Weekly,” of August 6th, 1859, by Dr. F. M. Otis, then
surgeon of the steamship “‘ Moses Taylor.” He had just returned from Panama,
where he had gathered his information.

Fia. 380.

Fies. 379 and 380.—Fish-representations of gold. Chiriqui.

I present in Figs. 379 and 380 copies of two of the illustrations accompany-
ing his article, which represent, as it appears, respectively, a shark holding a
snake or snakes (?) in his jaws, and a species of cat-fish. These illustrations
give a good idea of the character of the Chiriqui gold figures.*

State of Cauca, United States of Colombia.—In a small pamphlet published
in 1870, and noticed in ‘“ Matériaux,’ Dr. L. Marchant states that M. Laurent

* A very good account of the Chiriqui graves, based on personal observation, is given by the late Dr. J.
King Merritt in one of the bulletins of the American Ethnological Society, issued in 1860. ‘

APPENDIX. 323

Rabut saw, in possession of the Abbé Tripier, three gold fish-hooks, obtained
from a grave in New Granada.* No description of these hooks is given.

Fic. 381.—Gold fish-hook. Cauca.

Not long ago, Mr. Alexander C. Chenoweth, a civil engineer, showed me the
gold fish-hook represented in Fig. 381. He discovered it on the 15th of June,
1882, in a mining-tunnel excavated under his direction on the property known
as the Yacula gold-mine, situated in the State of Cauca, eighteen leagues distant
from Barbacoas, on the Pacific Coast. The fish-hook was found in the ground,
composed of gravel and drift-wood, together with two gold beads and several gold
nuggets. These objects occurred at a depth of fifty feet from the surface, in the
side of the mountain, which covered, in all probability, the ancient bed of the
Yacula River, and it is Mr. Chenoweth’s opinion that they cannot have been
introduced, but must have lain in the place where they were discovered. I regret
that I neglected asking the finder, now again abroad, concerning the elevation of
the mountain. Other gold fish-hooks, he stated, had been found in the same
district.

The hook, made of round, well-polished gold wire, is destitute of any con-
trivance for the attachment of a line.+

* Matériaux; Vol. VI, 1870; p. 348.—New Granada formerly embraced the present United States of Co-
lombia.

+ I found in the Washington ‘‘Sunday Post” of October 14, 1883, a short notice bearing on gold fish-hooks,
which was taken from the ‘(Arizona Citizen,” published at Tucson. Mr. E. J. Smith, the County Coroner, it is
stated in that notice, has in his possession four gold fish-hooks, acquired by him with others—now given away or
lost—in 1866, while engaged in mining-operations in the State of Cauca. I wrote immediately to Mr. Smith, for
the purpose of obtaining from him photographs of his gold fish-hooks and information as to their discovery; but
I reccived no answer. I then addressed a letter to the editor of the “‘Arizona Citizen,” Mr. 8. Robert Brown,
and he favored me with a reply, stating that he had spoken to Mr. Smith, and that the latter would send me the
desired photographs without delay. My letter to Mr, Smith was afterward published as a part of an article, en-
titled ‘‘ Prehistoric Fish Hooks,” in the ‘Arizona Daily Star’? (Tucson) of March 7, 1884. ‘The hooks, of
which Mr. Smith has four,” it is said, ‘‘ are about one inch in length and somewhat thicker than a good-sized pin,
and would in fishing be probably as effective asa barbless bent pin, which they much resemble. The shank to
which the line was attached is bent in the shape of a small ring or eye, with a diameter of probably one-sixteenth
of an inch. The hook is curved in a line paralle} with the shank, and has been ground down to a point almost
as sharp as that of a needle. The thirteen, which Mr, Smith at one time had, were, with one exception, of an
almost uniform size and weight; the one excepted being much larger and heavier, but otherwise not different

from the smaller ones.
“They were found in the State of Cauca, United States of Colombia, on the river Guava, about fifty leagues

324 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

Peru.—During his ten days’ exploration of the ruins at Pachacamac, about
twenty miles south of Lima, Mr. E. G. Squier examined a number of tombs, of
one of which he gives a detailed description. It contained five desiccated human
bodies, namely, those of a man of middle stature, of a full-grown woman, of a
girl about fourteen years old, of a boy some years younger, and of an infant.
Having mentioned the different wrappings shrouding the body of the man, Mr.
Squier continues:— ‘Passing around the neck, and carefully folded on the
knees, on which the head rested, was a net of the twisted fibre of the agave, a
plant not found on the coast. The threads were as fine as the finest used by our
fishermen, and the meshes were neatly knotted, precisely after the fashion of
to-day. This seems to indicate that he had been a fisherman—a conclusion
further sustained by finding, wrapped up in a cloth, between his feet some fishing-
lines of various sizes, some copper hooks, barbed like ours, and some copper
sinkers.’”*

I thought these articles were in the American Museum of Natural History
at New York, this institution having acquired Mr. Squier’s collection; but upon
inquiry, I was informed that they are not there, and Iam thus deprived of the
opportunity of giving any additional account of them. I was particularly anxious
to ascertain whether the hooks really were barbed, as stated by Mr. Squier; for
all Peruvian specimens of this class seen by me were unbarbed, and I cannot
remember having read any notice relating to barbed fish-hooks from Peru.

There are several single copper fish-hooks in the National Museum, and,
moreover, two sets of angling-apparatus, which would be complete, if the rods
were not wanting. These articles were but lately presented by Mr. G. H. Hurl-

from the city of Popayan, at which place Mr. Smith was, in conjunction with General O. Bando, mining for
placer-gold in the year 1866. One of the hooks was in the possession of General Bando, and was by him exhibited
as a curiosity at the time of Mr. Smith’s going there. Another, taken from the bed of a river into which the
Guava entered, was owned by a negro, and was by him also kept for the same purpose, showing therefore that even
there the hooks were not common, and could not be obtained but by great labor in washing earth taken out many
feet below the surface. The first hooks, three in number, found by Mr. Smith, were taken out ten feet below the
river-bed. The river had, at great cost, been turned from its natural channel. Nine others were taken from a
bar about two miles above the place where the first three had been found. The bar was the accumulation of cen-
turies, and was covered by a thick growth of forest. The gold was generally distributed over the bar, and as the
ground promised to be remunerative, it was adjudged best to sluice it entirely away. On the bed-rock, under a
lime-tree fully two feet in diameter, at a depth of about fifteen feet, several more hooks were secured, and still
others, at a like depth, in a crevice beneath an immense boulder that weighed probably twenty tons. The accum-
ulated débris of the bar varied from eight to twenty feet in thickness.

“By the people of the neighborhood they were generally believed to be the handiwork of an extinct tribe of
Indians, the remains of whose village were then to be seen six or seven leagues higher up, and near the source of
the river. They had evidently been workers in gold, as several old arrastras and mining-shafts bore proof. Their
graves have since been opened, and many trinkets of gold taken therefrom, lizards, fish and frogs being the
most common deyices.’’

Such is the account given in the above-named newspaper. Photographs of the hooks were sent by Mr.
Smith; but they arrived too late for reproduction and utilization. This very note was already in type, and had
to be modified to include the reference.

* Squier: Peru; Incidents of Travel and Exploration in the Land of the Incas ; New York, 1877; p. 74.

APPENDIX. 325

but, son of the late minister of the United States in Peru. In 1881, these gen-
tlemen sent out an inhabitant of Lima to procure antiquities. As the Chilians
then invested the capital, it is probable that the relics acquired on that occasion
were obtained in the vicinity of the city. More precise information as to their
discovery has not been furnished. At any rate, there can be no doubt that they
formed a part of a grave-deposit.

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Fic. 382.—Wooden mask with appended bags. Peru. (65376).

The most conspicuous, or central object, as it were—represented in Fig.
382—is a human face or mask with the neck indicated by a stem-like projection,

326 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

the whole tolerably well carved in wood, which, though rather decayed, still bears
traces of red paint. The eyes of this mask, which is somewhat larger than life-
size, are made of shell, and it is provided at the top and sides with perforations
serving for the attachment of various accompanying objects. The back part of
the mask, in order to give the carving the appearance of a head, is bolstered by
a netted bag filled with leaves, and covered with tow in imitation of hair.
There are further to be mentioned a sort of head-dress of feathers and a cloth
band around the top of the head. To this part of the head is attached a woven
bag, which contained three stone sinkers, bits of copper, corn-husks inclosing
earth, and other articles. Fastened to the left side of the mask is a bag of net-
work in which were two reels of reed, with the lines wound around them, one
of the reels having a copper fish-hook affixed to either end ; also small nets filled
with beans, gourd-seeds, etc. On the right side of the mask is attached a small,
closely-woven pouch with long fringes at the lower edge, which contains small
bundles of feathers, of wool, cotton, and various other substances.*

Fic 383. (65384). Fig. 384. (65381).

Fics. 385 and 384.—Reel with line and two copper fish-hooks, and stone sinker. Peru.

* Such masks are not unfrequently found in Peruvian graves. See Squier’s ‘Peru,’ p. 90. Other authors
on Peru likewise mention them.

APPENDIX. 327

Fig. 383 shows one of the pieces of reed with the line wound up. The latter
consists of vegetable fibre, and is twisted with perfect regularity. The reel has
at each end a split through which one of the copper fish-hooks is passed, as indica-
ted in the illustration. The hooks are much corroded, and covered with y erdigris.
They are unbarbed, and the larger of them is provided with an eye for fastening
the line, while the smaller one shows slight protuberances to facilitate that pro-
cess. I have called them copper hooks, though there is a possibility that they
may consist of bronze. They are rather frail, and an attempt to discover
whether they consist of copper or an alloy might lead to their destruction.

Fig. 384 represents the largest and best-finished of the three sinkers, found
separately from the hooks and reels, as stated. It is carefully made of dark
argillite, well-smoothed, but not polished, and shows the strize produced in fash-
ioning it. A section through the middle would resemble an oval with one of
the ends truncated. There are two grooves at one end, and only one at the other.
These grooves are not entirely carried around, but terminate where they reach
the flattened side of the sinker. The arrangement shown in the represented
group conveys an impression of methodical order, perfectly in keeping with the
habits of the Peruvians.

L
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1

Fia. 385. Fie. 386. Fic. 387.

Fries. 385-387.—Copper fish-hooks. Ancon.

In addition, I copy designs of three copper fish-hooks from Plate 81 of the
yet unfinished splendid folio work by Messrs. W. Reiss and A. Stiibel, entitled
‘The Necropolis of Ancon in Peru,” which is published in German and English
(Berlin and London) under the auspices of the Directors of the Berlin Royal
Museum.* The authors devoted several years to the exploration of the burial-

* The appearance of this work was thus announced by the ‘‘ London Times ”’ :—

‘© We have never seen anything finer in chromo-lithography, and the illustrations have all the appearance
of being faithful reproductions of the originals. We have the strange-looking mummies themselves wrapped in
their many particolored cloths, tied round with ropes, and the numerous articles that loving hands deposited beside

328 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

ground at Ancon, a small place situated on the sea-coast, a short distance north
of Lima. The originals of Figs. 385, 386, and 387 on the preceding page differ
in shape from the hooks shown in Fig. 383; the ends of the shanks are bent
inwardly to facilitate the attachment of the line.

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Fia. 388. Fie. 389.

Fias. 388 and 389.—Portions of nets. Ancon.

Net-making was practised to a great extent in Peru before the conquest of
the country by the Spaniards, as the many netted articles found among grave-
deposits testify. ‘These nets, knotted exactly like ours, were not only made for
purposes of fishing, but served also, in the form of bags, as the receptacles of
various articles. Such bags with their contents have frequently been taken from
Peruvian graves. The wrappings of the mummies, or rather desiccated bodies,
are often externally encompassed by a net-work of bast or twisted straw.

Figs. 388 and 389 represent portions of nets found in graves at Ancon, and
preserved in the Peabody Museum (Nos. 8789 and 7326). These nets differ in
no way from those made at the present day. They are of a brownish color and
the material is vegetable fibre, the character of which I am unable to determine.

It is well known that the former inhabitants of Peru excelled in the manu-
facture of pottery, producing vessels, which, by their peculiarities of form and

them for use on their endless journey. Then we have specimens of various kinds of woven garments, evidently

of fine texture, and showing great taste in arrangement of color and elaboration of ornament, Spindles and
work-baskets, clay figures, a view of the cemetery itself, and a panorama of the district in which it stands are

among the other subjects illustrated, As the cemetery at Ancon was a common one, it is obvious that the objects
contained in it will illustrate the life of the bulk of the people of Old Peru. This work is monumental in char-
acter, and its value to the archzolegist will be of the highest.”

APPENDIX. 329

ornamentation, generally can be distinguished without much difficulty from the
ancient ceramic manufactures found in other parts of America. They often
moulded their vessels in the form of the quadrupeds, birds, fishes, ete., of their
country, or of human heads or entire human figures with various attributes,
sometimes of unintelligible character. Indeed, it would be impossible to exhaust
in a few words the range of conceptions expressed in their ceramic works.
Figures of the character just alluded to also appear as the decorations of their
more simple vessels, and these ornaments are either painted or worked in a kind
of relief, their contour being brought out by the removal of the surrounding
portion of the surface. Peruvian clay vessels imitating the form of a fish are
not rare, and nearly every work treating of the antiquities of Peru refers to
them. A fine fish-shaped vessel is figured on Plate XIII of the “Antiguédades
Peruanas” by M. E. Rivero and J. J. von Tschudi (Vienna, 1851), and one of
similar, though somewhat simpler, form is preserved in the United States
National Museum.

Fic. 390.—Fish-shaped clay vessel. Peru. (5341).

Fig. 390 represents it. The longitudinal axis measures a trifle more than
ten inches, while the transverse middle diameter is only six inches in length.
The two strongly bulging sides forming the fish-figure meet above and below
under an obtuse angle, forming a blunt edge or ridge, which is interrupted by
the neck and a flattish bottom, barely permitting the vessel to stand. It is coated

R 42

330 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

with a shining black color. The illustration renders further description super-
fluous. This specimen was brought from Peru, many years ago, by Captain
Aulick, U.S. N.

Fia. 391.—Arica.

Fig. 392.—Trujillo. Fic. 393.—Trujillo.

Fics. 391-393.—Fish-shaped clay vessels.

Among the fish-formed vessels figured in M. Charles Wiener’s work on
Peru and Bolivia is one from Arica, which exhibits the same general character.*
It is represented in Fig. 391. In Figs. 392 and 393 I present forms of clay
vessels from Trujillo, belonging to Dr. José M. Macedo’s collection of Peruvian
antiquities, now on exhibition at Paris.+

In describing the fish-shaped vessel from Missouri, represented in Fig. 357
on page 213, I directed attention to its similarity to the corresponding class of
Peruvian earthenware. I hardly need add that I draw no conclusions whatever
from this resemblance.

I cannot remember having seen Peruvian vessels with fish-figures painted
on them, and know of their existence only from descriptions. Dr. Macedo men-
tions in his catalogue several vessels ornamented with painted fish-designs,
associated with other figures.

* Wiener: Pérou et Bolivie; Paris, 1880; p. 604.
+ Hamy: Revue d’Ethnographie; Vol. I, 1882; p. 69, Figs. 57 and 61.

APPENDIX. ook

There are in the National Museum several vessels from Peru, showing fish-
figures in relief. I give in Fig. 394 a representation of the most conspicuous
among them—a black vessel of graceful form, with a handle in the shape of a
monkey. There appears on each side a sort of panel showing the figures of two
fishes and that of a long-billed bird between them. The background from which
the figures stand out is marked with the raised dots often surrounding the relief-
work on Peruvian earthenware. Fig. 395 shows the panel enlarged.

This fine specimen was presented to the National Museum by Mr. J. V.
Norton.

a
2

Fia. 395.

Fires. 394 and 395.—Clay vessel and ornamentation on it enlarged. Peru. (17377).

Dr. Macedo mentions in his catalogue a small vase from Casma with an
aperture in the form of a man’s head and two animal-shaped handles. On the
front part is represented in relief a man standing upright among fishes, and in
the act of catching a large fish with a net.*

The progress in metallurgy which the Peruvians had made before the advent
of the Spaniards is well known, and it would be foreign to my purpose to enlarge
on the subject. Like all other indigines of America, I will simply state, they
were unacquainted with the use of iron; but they worked copper and the precious
metals, producing a great variety of tools, utensils, ornaments, and trinkets,

* Catalogue d’Objects Archéologiques du Pérou; Paris, 1881; p. 17, No. 261.

332 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

which often betoken a considerable degree of skill. Many objects were made of
an alloy of gold and copper, called champi. They also used bronze. Innitations
of living creatures in gold, silver, or champi are still in existence, though the
gold objects, as may be imagined, have mostly been melted.

Mr. Squier represents a fish cast in solid silver, brought with other kindred
articles from Peru;* but I refrain from copying his figure, being somewhat in
doubt as to the genuineness of the original, which I have often seen. It is now
in the American Museum of Natural History at New York.

In the year 1867 Mr. Squier received from Mr. Henry Swayne, then at
Lima, a series of representations of fishes of various kinds, cut out from thin
plates of silver. They are here shown in Figs. 396 to 403.7 Mr. Squier con-
siders them as “accurate representations of fishes actually found in Peruvian
waters.” I showed the illustrations for identification to Professor Theodore Gill,
who pronounced them too conventional in execution for determining the different
species. Concerning the circumstances of their discovery Mr. Swayne wrote as
follows :-—

‘“T avail myself of the first opportunity to send you a number of small silver
fishes, which were taken out, by the captain of a coasting-vessel, a friend of mine,
from the guano of the Chincha Islands, thirty-two feet below the surface. I think
they will go far to establish the high antiquity of the aborigines of this country.
This friend of mine, Captain Juan Pardo, an Italian, saw taken out of the guano,
at the same time that these fishes were found, the body of a female, lacking the
head, which, however, was discovered at some distance from the skeleton. The
chest, breasts, and ribs were covered with thin sheets of gold, and the whole
would have been a most valuable relic, had it been preserved as found. But the
workmen divided the gold, part of which was sold to captains of ships loading
guano, and the body thrown into the sea.’’t

Mr. Squier is somewhat skeptic regarding the statements that artefacts have
occurred at great depths in the guano. ‘These accounts, he thinks, “are far too
vague to be accepted, in this epoch of positive science, as the basis of rational
speculation regarding the antiquity of man or his works on the shores of Peru.
Articles may be found at considerable depths in huanu, where they have been
buried. They may have been simply deposited at the surface and fallen down,

* Squier: Peru; p. 1738.

} These illustrations appeared first in Frank Leslie’s “‘ Illustrated Newspaper ”’ of October 19, 1867, accom-
panying an article by Mr. Squier. They were then again published by him in an essay in the ‘ Journal of the
Anthropological Institute of New York, Vol. I, New York, 1871-72,” p. 51; and finally found their way into his
“ Peru ”’ (copyrighted in 1877). I am indebted to Messrs. Harper & Brothers for electrotypes of these illustra-
tions as well as for that of Fig. 404, which likewise appeared both in the above-named journal (p. 54) and in the
work on Peru.

{ Squier: Antiquities from the Guano or Huanu Islands of Peru; Journal of the Anthropological Institute
of New York; Vol. I, 1871-’72; p. 50, ete.

APPENDIX. 333

to an apparently great depth, with the disintegration or ‘caving’ down of the
wall of the material in course of removal, and thus appear to have been deposited
there. We must, however, exhaust the easiest modes of resolving a question
before resorting to those that are complex.”

Fic. 396. Fic. 397. Fig. 399.

Fia. 401. Fic. 402. Fic. 403.

ANl 4.

Fras. 396-403.—Fish-shaped silver ornaments. From one of the Chincha Islands.

The silver fishes just described are in the American Museum of Natural
History at New York. There can be little doubt that they were originally
attached as ornaments to some article of dress, which has long yielded to decay

* Squier: Antiquities, ete.; p. 55.

334 PREHISTORIC FISHING.

in the covering deposit. This application appears the more probable as there is
preserved among the antiquities of the New York Historical Society an ancient
poncho, taken from a tomb at Gran Chimu, near Trujillo, upon which are sewed,
in considerable number, silver fishes, not differing much from those sent by Mr.
Swayne. On the head of the body with which the poncho was found rested a
thin silver plate, cut out in a form which has been supposed to represent a skate,
and having on it “ struck-up” representations of three fishes resembling those
attached to the poncho itself.

Fic. 404.—Fish-shaped silver ornament. Gran Chimu.

This fish-shaped ornament, shown in Fig. 404, measures nine and a half
inches in greatest length, and five and a fourth inches in greatest breadth. Mr.
Squier thinks it was inserted between the forehead and the fillet encircling it,
and worn as a kind of aigrette.* Professor Gill is of opinion that this figure
was not intended to imitate a skate, and thinks it resembles more the Discopyge
Tschudii, Heckel (of the Torpedo family), a fish inhabiting the sea along the
Peruvian coast.

The many textile fabrics rescued from Peruvian tombs bear witness to the
skill in weaving and dyeing displayed by the former inhabitants, who used as
materials cotton and the wool of the camel-like animals of their country (llama
alpaca, vicufa, and huanaco). Many of their stuffs show regular inwoven pat-
terns, in the form of geometrical designs, or of fruits, reptiles, fishes, birds,
quadrupeds, and men. These figures, owing to the difficulty of the process, are

* Squier: Antiquities, ete.; p. 52.

APPENDIX. Soe

angular and of primitive appearance, yet, nevertheless, produce a pleasing
etfect.*

Te,

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ta

Fic. 405.—Piece of cloth with inwoyen fish-designs. Pisco.

The reader, by this time accustomed to the conventional fish-representations
of the Peruvians, will not fail to recognize one in the central design of Fig. 405,
showing a portion of a piece of cloth, found at Pisco, one hundred and thirty
miles south of Lima. The same figure, differently colored, is twice repeated at
the lower edge of the fragment. The illustration is copied from page 637 of M.
Wiener’s “ Pérou et Bolivie.”

* ‘¢T] est interéssant de suivre ce que nous appellerions volontiers le développement des dessins dans la trame
des étoffes. Les étoffes les plus simples ont pour ornements de simples lignes droites paralléles, d’autres des lignes
croisées ; ce sont 14 les premiers modéles que nous retrouvons dans les nattes de paille. Cependant ces dessins se
développent, le méandre remplace d’abord les lignes croisées, et puis petit 4 petit nous trouvons la reproduction
de fruits, de poissons et d’animaux, pour nous élever finalement 4 la représentation de homme. Cependant les
difficultés techniques empéchaient le libre développement de la ligne. La courbe est toujours remplacée par une
ligne cent fois brisée et se mouvant suivant des angles droits. C’est ainsi que le crane devient une pyramide a
gradins, que l’@il devient un rhomboide, le nez un triangle, la bouche un quadrilatére.’"— Wiener : Pérou et Bo-
livie, p. 636, etc.

INDEX.

Abbot, C. C., Trenton gravels, 114; bone fish-hook,
Long Island, 126; sinkers, New Jersey, 157; fish-
cutters, New Jersey, 183, 185; anchor-stones,
New Jersey, 192; shell-heaps in New Jersey,
227.

Abundance of fish in North American waters, 117.

Adair, J., fishing of the Chikkasas and other Southern
Indians, 291-293.

Age of kjékisenméddings, 35; shell-heaps in Florida,
246; the Aleutian Islands, 256-260.

Aleutian Islands, shell-heaps in the, 256-260.

Amulets of the cave-men, 8; lake-dwellers, 42.

Anchor-stones of the neolithic age, 94; in North
America, 192-196.

Animals and plants used by the lake-dwellers, 43-45.

Animal remains in the drift, 2,115; Dordogne caves, 6;
kjokkenméddings, 35; lake-dwellings, 43; North
American shell-heaps, 216-260, passim.

Antlers with incised figures in the reindeer-period, 27.

“Arpion,” 51.

Arrow-heads of horn and flint in lake-dwellings, 56.

Art among the Dordogne cave-men, 6-8, 27.

Ash-pits in Ohio, 124.

Atwater, C., copper sinker, Ohio, 181;
Ohio, 241.

Aurochs, figures of, carved on antler, La Madelaine, 31.

shell-heaps in

Bailing-scoop, California, 190.

Baird, 8S. F., shell-heaps in New Brunswick and New
England, 222.

Bait-holders of bone, Switzerland, 46; California, 119;
of flint, Germany, 69; of bronze, Switzerland, 99;
of stone, North America, 117.

Barbed points of bronze, Europe, 105.

Bark canoes of the Beothues, Newfoundland, 26
Indians of Canada, 272; Iroquois, 273, 282;
Northern Indians of British America, 276; New
England Indians, 279, 280.

“ Batons,’’ in the reindeer-period, 27-31.

Beauchamp, W. M., fish-hook of deer-horn, New York,
128; harpoon-heads of deer-horn, New York,
145, 152.

Beothues, of Newfoundland, 266.

Berlin Fishery Exhibition, bone fish-hooks, Switzerland,
48, 49; harpoon-head, Switzerland, 53; bait-holder
of bronze, Switzerland, 99; bronze fish-hook,
Switzerland, 103.

Bessels, E., flint-pointed fish-hook, Greenland, 121; for-
mation of shell-heaps in Greenland, 221.

Beverly, R., aboriginal fishing in Virginia, 288.

Blood-grooves on Dordogne harpoon-heads, 17.

Boat found at Berneuchen, 91; near Savannah, 188.

Boats, from Robenhausen, 66; Saint Peter's Island, 66;
Moringen, 67; Cudrefin, 105; Vingelz, 107; Mer-
curago, 108; found in Ireland, 91; the silt-beds
of Scotland, 93; Denmark, 111; of the Greenland
Eskimos, 263; natives of Nootka Sound, 314, 315;
Prince William’s Sound, 316; Unalashka, 317.

Boisbaudran, Lecoq de, unilateral barbs, 20.

Bone-and-flint harpoon-heads, Scania, 81; Prussia, 82.

Booths for fishing in California, 297, 299, 300.

Boucher de Perthes, drift-implements in France, 2.

Boys taught to fish in Mexico, 214.

Bransford, J. F., sinkers, Ometepec Island, 319.

Brickell, J., aboriginal fishing in North Carolina, 290.

Brinton, D. G., shell-heaps in the United States, 217;
Tennessee, 241.

Broca, P., opinion concerning fishing in the reindeer-
period, 10; definition of “harpoon,” 19; absence
of fishing-nets in the reindeer-period, 26; engraved
design of the cave-dwellers, Laugerie Basse, 30.

Bronze, how brought into Europe, 96; in lake-settle-
ments, 97; bronze age, 95, 111.

Brooks, Miss M., bone fish-hooks in shell-heaps, Rhode
Island, V.

Bull-hide boats of the Mandans, ete., 295.

Butler, J. D., copper harpoon-heads, Wisconsin, 152.

Cabeza de Vaca, A. N., reference to nets of the Indians,
156; shell-heaps in North America, 216.

California, aboriginal fishing in, 296-801.

Canada, aboriginal fishing in, 268-274.

Cannibalism, signs of, in Florida shell-heaps, 245.

Canoes of birch-bark, how made, 266, 272, 273, 276, 279,'
280, 282.

Carolinas, aboriginal fishing in the, 289-293.

Carp, remains of, in the Dordogne caves, 12.

Carvings of fish, Alaska and California, 207; Costa Rica,
321.

Cat-fish, catching of, by Southern Indians, 292.

Catlin, G., bull-hide boats of the Mandans, 295.

Cauca, gold fish-hooks from, 322.

Cayes and rock-shelters in Europe, 4.

Javes of Dordogne, retreats of hunters and fishermen, 5.
Cazalis de Fondouce, P., fish-hook of antler, Norway,
72; stone anchor (?) from Bohusland, 94.

Cessac, L. de, carvings of cetaceans, ete., California, 210.

Champlain, Sieur de, fishing of the Hurons, 268.

837

338

Charlevoix, Father, aboriginal fishing in Canada, Di:

Charred objects in lake-dwellings, 41, 43, 44, 57.

Chenoweth, A. C., gold fish-hook, Cauca, 323.

Chinooks, salmon-fishing of the, 803.

Chiriqui, fish-shaped gold figures from, 321.

Christensen, bone fish-hook, Pomerania, 72; flint points
for fish-hooks, Germany, 122.

Clams, how taken by the Wintuns, 299.

Clavigero, F. X., Mexican fishing, 514.

Clay cones in lake-dwellings, 60; rings in lake-dwel-
lings, 62; vessels, fish-shaped, Arkansas, 211; Mis-
souri, 218; Peru, 329.

Climate of Europe in the palolithic age, 1; neolithic
age, 32.

Cloth with inwoven fish-designs, Peru, 835.

Codfish-hooks of the Makahs, 15.

Collins, J. W., “ devil’s claw grapnel,” 52.

Cook, J., boats and methods of fishing in Nootka Sound,
Prince William’s Sound, and Unalashka, 315-318.

Cook, G. H., shell-heaps in New Jersey, 230.

Copper, native, in North America, 138; working of, in
North America, 138, 154.

Cortés, H., Mexican fish-ponds, ete., 218.

Costa Rica, fish-carvings from, 321.

Cox, J., bone fish-hooks, Ohio, 124, 127, 128; harpoon-
head, Ohio, 147.

Crantz, D., fishing of the Greenlanders, 261.

Craw-fish, how caught by the North Carolina Indians,289.

Curing fish, Indians of Canada, 270; Virginia, 285.

Cushing, F. H., bone fish-hook, New York, 125; sink-
ers, New York, 156.

Dall, W. H., harpoon-heads of bone, Alaska, 143, 147,
149, 151; Aleutian shell-heaps, 144, 256; copper-
working in Alaska, 154; species of mollusks in
Californian shell-heaps, 254, 256.

Dawkins, W. B., early man in America, VI; baton as
arrow-straightener, 29; harpoon-head, Victoria
Cave, 80.

Dawson, J. W., harpoon-head, Nova Scotia, VT.

De Bry, T., aboriginal fishing in Virginia, 284.

Decoys for seals, used by the natives of Nootka Sound,
313.

De Laet, J., boats in Newfoundland, 266.

Delaware and Iroquois fishing, 283.

Desor, E., lacustrine clay ring, 62; boats of the lake-
dwellers, 67; on the bronze age, 98.

Devereux, J. H., copper sinker, Ohio, 181; fish-shaped
vessel, Arkansas, 211.

“ Deyvil’s claw grapnel,” 51.

Domestic animals, none in reindeer-period, 6; of the
lake-dwellers, 44.

Drift, animals of the European, 2; the North American,
115.

Drift-implements in France and England, 1-4; North
America, 114.

Driving fish, Delawares and Iroquois, 284; Southern
Indians, 291.

Drying fish, Indians of North Carolina, 290.

Dug-out discovered near Savannah, 188.

INDEX.

Dug-outs in New England, 278, 279; of the Delawares,
283; Virginia Indians, 286, 287; California In-
dians, 296, 298, 300; Chinooks, 303; natives of
Nootka Sound, 313, 316.

Dunn, J., salmon-fishing of the Chinooks, 803.

Dupont, E., baton from the eave of Goyet, 29.

Du Pratz, Le Page, aboriginal fishing in Louisiana, 293.

‘« Barly Man in Europe,” mentioned, VI.

Eel (?) traced on a baton, La Madelaine, 31; ecl-fishing,
aboriginal, in Canada, 270, 271; California, 298.

Egede, H., fishing of the Greenland Eskimos, 261.

Ellis, W., fish-hooks of the Society Islanders, 187.

Eskimos formerly farther south, 115.

Evans, J., harpoon-heads from Kent’s Cavern, 25; flint
fish-hooks, Sweden and England, 70; sinkers,
England and Scotland, 87; classification of bronze
relies, 96; bronze fish-hook, Ireland, 109.

Evers, E., fish-shaped vessel, Missouri, 213.

Extinction of species in Europe, 2, 82, 36, 37, 48.

Fascine-works in Swiss lakes, 40.

Fauna of the European drift, 2; reindeer-period, 6;
neolithic age, 82; North American drift, 115;
North American shell-heaps, 220, 221, 222, etc.

Fellenberg, E. de, boats from the Lake of Bienne, 106.

Figuier, L., net-making in prehistoric times, 64.

Fire-places in kjékkenméddings, 34; North American
shell-heaps, 221, 227, ete.

Fire used in fishing, in the Carolinas, 284; Virginia, 289.

Fish, abundance of, in American waters, 117.

Fish carved on antler, La Madelaine, 27; on a bear’s
tooth, Duruthy Grotto, 28; on a reindeer-jaw,
Laugerie Basse, 28; ona baton, cave of Goyet, 29.

Fish-cutters of stone, North American, 1838.

Fish-hooks of horn, bone, etc., lake-dwellings, 47; of
bone, Germany, 49, 72; Scania, 71; Dakota, 123;
Arkansas, 125; Indiana, 125; New York, 125,
126; Illinois, 126; Ohio, 124, 126, 127, 128; Cali-
fornia, 129; Greenland, 180; New Zealand, 137;
of flint, Sweden, 69; of reindeer-horn, Norway,
72; Arctic America, 130; of bronze, Switzerland,
99-104, passim ; Germany, 102, 110; Italy, 103;
Savoy, 103; British Isles, 109; Denmark, 109;
flint-pointed, Greenland, 120; Rtgen, 121; of
deer-horn, New York, 128; of shell ‘including
mode of manufacture), California, 131-135; Sa-
moa, 136; of turtle-shell, Serle Island, 136; of
copper, Wisconsin, 1388; Peru, 324; of cactus-
spines, used by the Mohaves, how made, 139; of
gold, Cauca, 323.

Fishing-arrows, Louisiana, 293.

Fishing-implements scarce in the European stone age,
68.

Fishing-scene on a scapula, Laugerie Basse, 29.

Fish-pen in New York, 200.

Fish-preserves in Georgia, 197.

Fish-rakes of the Chinooks, 304; natives of Nootka
Sound, 315, 316.

INDEX.

Fish-remains in the Vézére caves, 10; kjokkenméddings,
36; lake-dwellings, 45; North American shell-
heaps, 218-260, passim.

Fish-shaped vessels, North America, 212; Peru, 329.

Floats for harpoons, 21; for lines and nets in lake-dwel-
lings, 49, 63; none prehistoric in North America,
141; with arrows, Louisiana, 293.

Florida, aboriginal fishing in, 291.

Forging iron, natives of Nootka Sound, 314.

Friedel, E., bait-holders of flint, Prussia, 69; of bronze,
Switzerland, 99; javelin-heads, Prussia, 82; an-
chor-stones, Prussia, 87,94; boats, Prussia, 91, 110.

Frontispiece, note, 102.

Gaines, A. S., and Cunningham, K. M., shell-heaps in
Alabama, 249.

Gastaldi, B., wooden anchor, Mercurago, 67; boat, Mer-
curago, 108.

Georgia, aboriginal fishing in, 291.

Gernerd, J. M. M., stone sinkers, Susquehanna Valley,
157.

Gill, T., Peruvian fish-figures, 332, 384.

Glacial man, condition of, 1.

Goering, A., pile-dwellings in Venezuela, 38.

Gold figures, fish-shaped, Chiriqui, 321.

Goyet, cave of, 29.

Gratz, prehistoric net from Mammoth Cave (?), 155.

Greenland, fishing of the Eskimos in, 261-266.

Grewingk, C., harpoon-heads in marl of Estland, V.

Grooved sinkers, 59, 85-88, 89, 161-164, 319, 320.

Gross, V., harpoons of lake-dwellers, 55.

Haidahs, canoes of the, 310.

Halibut-hooks, Makahs, 14.

Haynes, H. W., Trenton gravels, 115.

Harpoon-arrows, La Madelaine, 23.

Harpoon-heads of reindeer-horn, France, 16, 18, 19, 23;
England, 25; Switzerland, 25; of deer-horn,
Switzerland, 52,55; New York, 145, 150, 152; of
bone, Switzerland, 54; Scania, 73; Seeland, 73, 77;
Finen, 77; Jutland,77; Tierra del Fuego, 77; Vic-
toria Cave, 80; in colonial times, 142; California,
143 ; Maine, 143, 144, 148, 151; Alaska, 144, 148,
149,151; Puget Sound, 145; New York, 145, 150;
Ohio, 147; Michigan, 147, 149; of ox-horn, Po-
land, 78; of stone, Europe, 83; North America,
141; of elk-horn, New York, 146; of copper,
Wisconsin, 152; Alaska, 154.

Harpoons and fish-hooks, priority in time, 12, 141.

Harpoons of the caye-men, 16, 22; Eskimos and North-
west Coast Indians, 20; lake-dwellers, 52; South-
ern Indians, 291; Makahs, 306 ; natives of Nootka
Sound, 311, 316.

Hearne, 8., fishing of the Northern Indians, 274.

Henaggi Indians, dug-outs of the, 298.

Henry, A., aboriginal fishing in Michigan, 273.

Herring and shad, former spread of, in New York, 203.

Hoffman, W. J., bone fish-hook, Dakota, 128.

Horse-figure delineated on a baton, La Madelaine, 27;
horse-heads traced on antler, La Madelaine, 31.

339

House-sites in Greenland shell-heaps, 219.
Hurons, aboriginal fishing of the, 268.

Ice-picks (?) of flint in the European drift, 4.

Implements of the drift, 2; reindeer-period, 6; neolithic
age, 33; kjokkenméddings, 85; lake-dwellers, 41.

Iroquois, fishing of the, 283.

Irving, W., pile-dwellings in Venezuela, 38.

Javelin-heads of bone with inserted flakes of flint, Scania,
81; Prussia, 82.

Jogues, I., shell-heaps in New York, 216.

Johnson, E., fish-shooting, New England Indians, 278.

Jones, C. C., stone sinkers, 165; dug-out exhumed near
Savannah, 188; ancient fish-preserves in Georgia,
197; shell-heaps in Georgia, 242.

Jones, J. M., shell-heaps in Nova Scotia, 221.

Jones, 8., fish-hooks of the Kutchin Indians, 122.

Jordan, F., shell-heaps in Delaware, 230.

Josselyn, J., aboriginal fishing in New England, 279.

Kalm, P.,shell-heaps in the Atlantic States, 217; aborigi-
nal fishing in New York and New Jersey, 281.

Kayaks of the Greenlanders, 264; Alaskans, 316.

Keith, M. C., carving of fish from Costa Rica, 320.

Keller, F., lake-dwellings, 37-68, 97-109, passim.

Kent’s Cavern, 9; harpoon-heads from, 25.

Kesslerloch, 9; harpoon-heads from, 24.

“ Killick,” 196.

Kjokkenméddings, or kitechen-middens, 83-37.

Klemm, G., flint sinkers and anchor-stones, Heligoland
and Rugen, 87; flint-pointed fish-hook, Green-
land, 120.

Knight of Elyas, Indian nets, 156.

Lake-dwellings, 87-68, 97-109; construction of, 40, 97.

Lake-settlements, age and duration of, 39, 98.

Lartet, E.,and Christy, H., Dordogne caves, 5-32, passim.

Lartet, E., fishing of the cave-men, 10.

Lartet, L., and Dupare, C., exploration of Duruthy
Grotto, 28.

Lawson, J., aboriginal fishing in North Carolina, 289.

Le Hon, H., bone arrow-head, Saint-Aubin, 47.

Le Jeune, Le P., aboriginal eel-fishing in Canada, 271.

Lewis, E., shell-heaps in Long Island, 227.

Lewis, H. C., age of the Trenton gravels, 114.

Lloyd, T. G. B., boats of the Beothues, 266.

Looms of the lake-dwellers, 61.

Loskiel, G. H., fishing of Delawares and Iroquois, 283.

Louisiana, aboriginal fishing in, 293.

Lubomirski, J. T., fish-spear-heads, Poland, 78.

Lyell, Sir C., fauna of the Dordogne caves, 5; boats from
the Scottish silt, 92; shell-heaps in Massachusetts
and Georgia, 217.

Macedo, J. M., fish-shaped vessels, Peru, 331.
McGuire, J. D., shell-heaps in Maryland, 237.
Mackenzie, A., fishing of the Slave and Dogrib Indians,

276.

340

McLean, J. J. shell-heaps at Cape Mendocino, 254.

MacLean, J. P., shell-heaps on Blennerhassett’s Island,
239.

Madsen, A. P., Danish harpoon-heads, 77; drawing of
a Greenland fish-hook, 120.

Makahs, fishing of the, 305.

Makhelchels, tule boats of the, 299.

Mandans, bull-hide boats of the, 295.

Marchant, L., gold fish-hooks, New Granada, 822.

Mask, ancient Peruvian, 325.

Mason, O. T., anchor-stones in Virginia, 195.

Massenat, E., rude tracing of a fishing-scene, Laugerie
Basse, 29.

Meares, J., fishing of the natives of Nootka Sound, 310.

Mendoza Codex, delineations from the, 214.

Merk, K., harpoon-heads from the Kesslerloch, 24.

Michilimakinacs, fishing of the, 272.

Michoacan, ‘the place where possessors of fish live,”’
214.

Mitchell, A., Scottish stone sinkers, 84.

Modoks, fishing of the, 300.

Montezuma, fish-carriers of, 214.

Monuments of the neolithie age, 33.

Morgan, L. H., Iroquois canoes, 282.

Mortillet, G. de, fish-hooks (?) in the reindeer-period, 16 ;
boat, Saint Peter’s Island, 67; ancient boats dis-
covered in France, 94.

Nelson, E. W., bird-capture of the Alaska Eskimos, 13.

Neolithic age, fishing in the, 33-95.

Nets not known (?) in the reindeer-period, 26; of the
lake-dwellers, 57; from Mammoth Cave (?), 155;
mentioned by early writers on America, 155; of
the Canada Indians, 268; New England Indians,
279; Louisiana Indians, 293; Shoshonees, 294 ;
California Indians, 296-301, passim; Pai-Utes,
301; from Ancon, 328; used as receptacles, Peru,
328.

Netting-needles (?) of the lake-dwellers, 64; modern, 65.

New England, aboriginal fishing in, 277-280.

New Jersey, aboriginal fishing in, 282.

New York, aboriginal fishing in, 281.

Nilsson, S., flint fish-hooks, Sweden, 69; bone harpoon-
heads, Seania, 73; fish or bird-darts, Arctic Amer-
ica, 75; Scandinavia, 81; sinkers, Sweden, 90.

Nootka Sound, fishing of the natives of, 310-316.

Nordenskidld, A. E., shell-heaps in Greenland, 219.

North Carolina, aboriginal fishing in, 289, 290, 291.

Notched sinkers, 59, 157-160, 319.

Ogilby, J., aboriginal fishing in New England, 278.

Opochtli, Mexican god, 214.

Ometepec Island, sinkers from, 319.

Ornaments, fish-shaped, of gold, Chiriqui, 321; silver,
Peru, 332-334.

Otis, F. M., golden fish-figures, Chiriqui, 322.

Outaouais as canoe-builders, 273.

INDEX.

Pachacamac, tomb containing fishing-tackle, 324.

Paddles not found in the neolithic age, 94; prehistoric,
in North America, 191; of the Makahs, 307; na-
tives of Nootka Sound, 315.

Pai-Ute Indians, fishing of the, 301.

Paleolithic age in Europe, 1-382; in North America, 114.

Palligawonaps, fishing of the, 300.

Palmer, E., cactus-spine fish-hooks, Mohaves, 139.

Peabody Museum, loan of lacustrine fishing-imple-
ments, VII.

Peace River Indians, fishing of the, 276.

Perforated sinkers, 59, 60, 88, 89, 165-167, 320.

Petroff, I., Aleutian shell-heaps, 258.

Phillips, B., eel-fishing in France, 46.

Pickering, C., turtle-shell (?) fish-hook, Serle Island, 1386.

Pike, remains of, in the Dordogne caves, 12.

Pile-dwellings in Venezuela, Mexico, ete., 388.

Pirogues, Louisiana, 294.

Pliocene man in America, doubtful, 116.

Platform-pipes with fish-representations, Ohio, 205.

Plummets, 167.

Poisoning fish, Indians in the Southern States, 291;
Wailakkis, 298.

Polynesian fish-hooks, 135.

Pottery probably unknown to paleolithic man, 1; of
the neolithic age, 33, 42; kjokkenméddings, #5 ;
bronze age, 97, 98; North American shell-heaps,
221-249, passim; Florida shell-heaps, 247.

Powell, J. W., shell-heaps in California, 254.

Powers, §., aboriginal fishing in California, 296-301 ;
Nevada, 301.

Pratt, W. H., bone fish-hook, Arkansas, 125.

Prehistoric America, meaning of the term, 113.

Prince William’s Sound, fishing of the natives of, 316.

Prussia, sinkers of clay in, 91.

Putnam, F. W., remains from Mammoth Cave (?), 155;
copper sinker, 181; slate fish-cutters, 183, 185;
fish-carvings, 207; shell-heaps in New England,
224.

Races of the palwolithic age, 9.

Rafts of the Shoshonees, 295.

Refuse-accumulations in the Vézére caves, 5.

Reindeer-period, 4-10.

Reiss, W., and Stiibel, A., “The Necropolis of Ancon,”
327.

Reynolds, E..R., shell-heaps in Maryland, 235.

Roasting fish, Indians of Virginia, 285.

Rock-shelters in Europe, 4.

Runners carrying fish in Mexico, 214.

Sagard, T., fishing of the Hurons, 268.

Sahagun, B. de, Mexican god Opochtli, 214.

Salmon-fishing of the Chinooks, 803.

Salmon-spearing of the Shoshonees, 294; California In-
dians, 297, 299, 302.

Salmon, remains of, in the Dordogne caves, 11.

Sardine-fishing of the natives of Nootka Sound, 310.

INDEX.

Sauvage, H. E., fishing in the reindeer-period, 4, 11, 12.

Scarfing of canoes, Makahs, 309.

Schoolcraft, H. R., bone fish-hook, Cunningham’s Island,
126.

Schumacher, P., bait-holder (?) of jasper, Oregon, 117;
manufacture of shell fish-hooks, California, 134;
shell-heaps in Oregon, 249.

Seal-figure traced on a bear’s tooth, Duruthy Grotto, 32.

Seal-catching of the Greenlanders, 264; natives of Noot-
ka Sound, 313.

Sea-otter-hunting of the natives of Nootka Sound, 311.

Shell-deposits, artificial, in Denmark, 33; North Amer-
ica, 216.

Shells, species of, in kjokkenméddings, 36; North Amer-
ican shell-heaps, 216-260, passim.

Shoshonees, fishing of the, 294.

Silver fish-figures from one of the Chincha Islands, ete.,
382,

Sinkers of stone, notched, Switzerland, 59; North Amer-
ica, 157-160; Nicaragua, 319; grooved, Switzer-
land, 59; Scotland, 85, 86; England,87; Ireland,
88; Denmark, 89; North America, 161-164; Nica-
aragua, 319, 320; perforated, Switzerland, 59, 60;
Treland, 88, 89; North America, 165-167; Nica-
ragua, 320; of clay, Switzerland, 60; Germany,
62, 91; Nicaragua, 319; for fishing-lines, North
American, of stone and other materials, smooth,
incised, knobbed, perforated, ete., 167-183 ;* of cop-
per, Ohio, 180; of shell, North America, 182.

Skeletons, human, rare in lake-dwellings, 41.

Skin canoes of the Unalashkans, 317.

Slave and Dogrib Indians, fishing of the, 276.

Slaves employed to fish by the inhabitants of Nootka
Sound, 311.

Sloan, J., bone fish-hook, Indiana, 125.

Smelt-fishing, aboriginal, in California, 297.

Smith, E. J., gold fish-hooks, Cauca, 323.

Smith, J., fish-hooks in Virginia, 122 ; aboriginal fishing
in Virginia, 287.

Snyder, J. F., bone fish-hook, Illinois, 126; anchor-
stones, Illinois, 193.

Social condition of the cave-inhabitants of the Vézére
Valley, 9; Danish coast-dwellers, 35; Swiss lake-
men, 41, 97.

Social rank in the reindeer-period, 8.

Squier, E. G., and Davis, E. H., sinker from Ohio, 164;
plummets, 168; platform-pipes with fish-figures,
Ohio, 205.

Squier, E. G., harpoon-head of bone, New York, 145;
fishing-tackle from Pachacamac, 324; silver fish-
figures from one of the Chincha Islands, 332.

Steaming of canoes, Makahs, 309.

Steenstrup, J. 8., age of kjékkenméddings, 35; use of
meteoric iron in Greenland, 263.

Stevens, E. T., plummet in the Blackmore Museum, 173.

Stone implements in the palsolithie age, 2, 114; Dor-
dogne caves, 6; neolithic age, 33; kjokkenméd-
dings, 35; lake-dwellings, 41; North American
shell-heaps, 218-260, passim.

Stone, L., fishing of the McCloud River Indians, 302.

341

Stone, W. L., fish-pen in New York, 201.

Sturgeon-fishing, aboriginal, in New England, 279;
Virginia, 289; of the Chinooks, 303.

Suckers, aboriginal fishing of, in Nevada, 301.

Superstitions connected with fishing, 272, 275, 290, 303,
305.

Swan, J. G., Makahs, fishing of the, 12, 14, 305; their
halibut-hooks, 14; codfish-hooks, 15; Chinooks,
fishing of the, 305; canoes of the Haidahs, 310.

Tertiary man, 1, 116.

Textile fabrics of the lake-dwellers, 43.

Tooker, W. W., shell-heaps in Long Island, 225.

Toy-boats, 67, 190.

Trenton gravels, 114.

Trill, C. F., artist, VII.

Troyon, F., harpoons of the lake-dwellers, 54; boats of
the lake-dwellers, 67.

Tule boats (or rafts) of the Makhelchels, 299; Yokuts,
800; Pai-Utes, 301.

Twine-making of the Shoshonees, 294.

Umiak, of the Greenlanders, 263 ; “Alaskans, 316.
Unalashka Island, canoes and fishing in, 317.

“ Underrunning rock,’”’ 196.

Unilateral barbs, effects of, 20, 152.

United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries, V, VI.

Van der Donck, A., aboriginal fishing in the New Neth-
erlands, 281.

Vézére River, caves on the, 5.

Viurds, fishing of the, 298.

Victoria Cave, bone harpoon-head from, 80.

Village-sites in Oregon, 249.

Virchow, R., reference to clay sinkers in Prussia, 91.

Virginia, aboriginal fishing in, 284-289.

Vogt, C., extinction of the great auk, 36.

Voss, A., catalogue of German antiquities exhibited at
Berlin, 68.

Wailakkis, fishing of the, 298.

Walker, 8. T., shell-heaps in Florida, 246.

Wampum, New England, 277.

War-arrows, Louisiana, 293.

Weaving of the lake-dwellers, 61.

Weirs of the Greenlanders, 261; Virginia Indians, 285,
288; Yuroks, 297; McCloud River Indians, 302.

Whale-fishing of the Greenlanders, 262; Makahs, 306,
307; natives of Nootka Sound, 311.

Whales, uses of, among the Makahs, 307.

White, C. A., shell-heaps in Iowa, 241.

White-fish, Indian mode of catching, in Michigan, 273.

Wicomico Indians of Maryland, 236.

Wiener, C., fish-shaped vessels, Peru, 330; cloth with
fish-designs, Peru, 335.

Wilde, Sir W., Ivish sinkers, 88; boats, 91; bronze fish-
hook, 109.

Williams, J. J., cave near Santo Domingo, Mexico, 160.

Williams, R., aboriginal fishing in New England, 277.

Wintuns, fishing of the, 299.

342 INDEX.

Wyeth, N. J., fishing of the Shoshonees, 294.

Wyman, J., bone dart-heads, Maine, 148, 151; shell-
heaps in New England, 223; Florida, 243.

Wiyots, see Viards.

Women’s boat, Greenland, 263; Alaska, 316.

Worsaae, J. J. A., kjdkkenméddings, age of, 35; Danish
sinkers, 89; Asiatic origin of bronze, 96; bronze
fish-hooks from Fiinen, 109; coffin of the bronze | Yarrow, H.-C., explorations in Southern California, 119.

age, 111. Yokuts, fishing of the, 300.

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